Rise Of The Wolfbat
by Known Unknown
Summary: The Wolfbatman Saga, Part 1: The end was just the beginning: soon old enemies will become new enemies worse than ever before, lives will be thrown into turmoil and heroes will be ensnared while one rises to try and save whatever he can. A post-Sozin's Comet fic fusing Avatar characters with Batman elements.
1. Prologue 1

**Disclaimer: I own neither Avatar nor any of the Batman elements I use in this story, and to assume I do either is probably a bad idea.  
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**Rise Of The Wolbat  
>By Known Unknown<strong>

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><p><strong><span>Prologue 1:<span>  
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Deep inside the furthest dungeon of the Fire Nation capital's most prestigious asylum for the dangerously insane lay the nation's most dangerous, most infamous, most high profile prisoner. Disheveled, dirty, and ferally unkempt, this prisoner was nevertheless never, under any circumstances, to be underestimated. Suitably for her position, her actions were closely monitored, and her guards armed to the teeth with weapons both physical and intangible: posted outside her door at every minute of the day, they stood determined vigil to be ready for an outburst or catastrophe at any given moment.

But so far the constant observation seemed unnecessary: from near the moment she arrived ex-Fire Lady Azula remained completely unresponsive. At every encouragement, from the prodding of her psychologists, to the awkward moments when her brother, now the Fire-Lord in her place, would arrive, to even the tentative visits of her once-friends, she remained in her catatonic state, doing nothing but sitting with her knees to her chest staring blankly at the walls. Visitors expected her to rave, to declare vengeance, maybe even to attack them… but in it's own way her silence was more unnerving.

The best psychiatrists in the nation doted on her night and day – the Fire Lord sought out only the best for his sister's… condition – but none of them, even the most skilled and experienced of them, couldn't do a thing to bring her out of her state. Treatments both medical and spiritual failed time and time again: it looked as though the princess' spirit was fully unreachable All they could do was leave it to her shattered mind, which only she could deal with.

And that mind was far too cracked to even make sense of things, let alone fix itself…

_Alone. Alone again. Always alone._ _I could have been… but no. There is no one. Perhaps their never was._

As always, the former princess' face did nothing to betray the thoughts that tore her apart from within. Only a mild twitching of her hateful eyes.

_Friends? I had no friends. Simpering fools waiting to turn on me at the first opportunity. They didn't care… did they? Perhaps… perhaps I gave them no choice. I destroyed everything in my path – including my friendships – leaving nothing but fear behind. That is the true Fire Nation way._

_But no. That is foolishness. They cared nothing for me: why else would they walk free, enjoying the luxuries that should be mine – accursed Mai – while I remain imprisoned in this hell hole. TRAITORS… traitors… all traitors… every last one._

A guard walking past the room might have heard a sniff come from inside, but if he had he didn't think it worth investigating.

_There is no one left who hasn't betrayed me. The Fire Nation army now serves my weakling of a brother. My so-called friends now fawn over our enemies and run to join them like useless puppies. The Avatar who presumed to bring balance to the nations. Feh! There is no true balance but that under our glorious rule, which he as so unceremoniously destroyed. My brother, oh my dear brother, has betrayed the natural balance and dared to take my destined place… he will pay._

_And myself… yes, I have betrayed myself most of all. In destroying everything, I destroyed myself, made myself into… nothing. I am not here for no reason._

_But now is the time to start anew, isn't it? Maybe… maybe I could make my own life now. There is nothing for me here but hatred, and… I so wish to be free. All I want to be fr-__**NO!**__ No… that is weakling talk. It must be. There is no freedom while my vengeance is unfulfilled. While __**our**__ vengeance is unfulfilled._

_Father… he is the only one who hasn't betrayed me, I know it. He is the only one I can trust now – I cannot trust my own thoughts. If he was not imprisoned like me at the very moment he would come to save me – his loving daughter. I know he would… he must… he will come to save me, yes… and then I will show him my devotion to the real Fire Lord…_

_He must come to save me… otherwise… I cannot… I do not have anything… there is nothing for and that… is unthinkable. No… He will come. He does care… he must… and then we will have our revenge… please, we must have our revenge… and all will suffer, and I will have my destiny… hehehe… hehahaha…. __**hahahhahahahahaha!**_

The cold, loathing laughed rose in pitch just as powerfully as it was absent – it echoed noiselessly against the walls, filled every crevice with silent maniacal mirth, hanging inescapably over the room like a crushing weight pressing down on it's ever-motionless inhabitant… who for reasons no one can explain, not even herself, shed Reduced to this: simultaneously cursing her existence and desiring nothing but freedom, dominated by inner conflict in contrast to her coldly confident past, she seemed completely and utterly defeated, but coldly, frighteningly hopeful… the kind of hope that may or may not be a good thing. One that, if her doctors knew of it, they would dream of nothing but keeping it contained.

But little did she or anyone else in the building know, her position, her containment, was about to change…

- _On The Other Side Of The City _-

Across the capital, in an even more heavily guarded dungeon reserved for naught but the most dangerous enemies of the Fire Nation, the occupant of the deepest darkest cell was the complete opposite of his addled daughter. Sure, he was just as straggly and gauntly unnerving, but in his mind there was nothing but determination. Dark, grim determination. And the machinations that only such determination can bring.

There was no musing, no despair, no conflicted anxiety. He too merely sat in his cell staring at he wall most days, not because he was out of reality but because he didn't deign to look upon those lesser than him… so when the guards saw him keeping his constant gaze, they assumed the same was the case and ignored his sneers. But today was not merely sneering for the sake of it. No, today he was waiting: listening closely to the oddly still air of his prison for reasons unknown.

And suddenly, just as planned, there came a scream and an explosion from the hallway outside, just out of sight. The Pheonix Lord smirked.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Allow me explain a bit: this is a semi-AU based off of the Wolfbatman universe (best source of stuff: .com/), which I thought was a pretty interesting idea and was disappointed that there wasn't an attempt to story it even a little. I say semi-AU because unlike the regular Wolfbatman stuff, which is fully alternate universe with the characters in completely new roles, this one takes place in the main storyline, continuing off on a dark tangent after the war is finally won. And there will thus be differences between my use of the universe and the original stuffs, mostly with decisions on how to use characters. Obviously AU with the advent of Korra, but hopefully that doesn't stop you from enjoying it.

If anyone asks why this isn't labelled a crossover, it's because it isn't one. It's not a cross between Batman and Avatar as much as an Avatar story that affectionately implements Batman elements.

This chapter was a slight hassle, however short it is - I had actually written the whole thing with Azula having a split personality before I realized I really didn't like the idea for her.


	2. Prologue 2

**Now for the opposite origin. Just so you know, I don't own Avatar nor any of the Batman elements I use in this story. On with the show...**

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><p><span>Prologue 2<span>

_Months Earlier: Some time before_ _the Eclipse invasion _

It was a bright, warm, sunshiney day, perfect for a nice relaxing hunt. At least, that's what Sokka thought the moment he woke up. Not even bothering to wake his friends (none of them were particularly good on a hunt anyway. Well, maybe Toph with her abilities, but she has an annoying habit of not telling him about things until after he stumbled over them. She thinks that kind of thing is hilarious) he set out into the lush Fire Nation forest to get food, Momo in tow –because the hyperactive lemur makes a surprisingly good early warning system. Obviously not because he liked having the little guy around. Of course not. And he would vehemently deny it any time someone brought it up.

In any case, it turned out his intuition was correct – by the end of the afternoon he had enough meat to last for weeks, even with his love for it, and the whole rest of the evening ahead of him to bask in the glory of a hunt well done, plan their next move, and relax – in that order.

Yes, life was good. Almost made him forget he was walking around in the Fire Nation, home of any multitude of people who wanted to kill him. No, everything was content: the setting sun in front of him, a sack full of meat behind him, the evening wind blowing through his hair, the sounds of anguished screaming echoing through the air… wait, what?

Dropping the spoils of his hunt, Sokka ran towards the screams as fast as he could. Sprinting to a hill overlooking a road, he spotted the source of the trouble. A pair of kids walking home much later than they were probably allowed to be out, had run into an opportunistic roadside bandit.

The thief was grinning, menacingly wielding a wickedly sharp dagger at the younger child, "Stop that screamin', boy. 'fore you attract some… unwanted attention."

The boy looked too terrified for words – his older sister looked just as frightened, but at least managed to speak: "We already told you! We don't have any money!"

"Well that's no problem," the thief chuckled, exposing even more of his nauseatingly yellow teeth, "a pair of kids lost and away from home? Probably catch a good price, even if your grievin' parents don't pay up. I can always find somebody willing to pay up…"

This was going to get bad. Fast. He needed to do something. Without thinking, Sokka reached into his survival pack and pulled out Boomerang. Hiding behind the trees, he gauged the distance, angling the shot just right…

THWACK!

His aim held true – smacking the bandit directly in the hand holding the knife. The children jumped back startled as their attacker howled with pain, clutching his injured fingers. They made to scatter, but unfortunately the bandit recovered faster than Sokka thought: eager to save himself, he dove and grabbed the young boy before he could get far enough away.

The boy's sister screamed, but a look from the bandit's sunken eyes silenced her. Pulling out a second, smaller knife, he held the boy close and pressed his blade against his neck.

"Alright! Whoever you are out there, listen up! Stay back or the boy dies!"

By now, Sokka had come to his senses a bit and realized getting involved so fast might not have been a good idea – if only because a warrior dressed in Water Tribe garb running around the Fire Nation forest might attract a tiny bit of attention – but it was too late to back out now, even if he weren't about to leave a pair of children at the mercy of a knife-wielding maniac.

He had no Fire Nation clothes on hand (hunting in his Water Tribe clothes felt more natural – he always worked in his normal clothes if he could help it), but he at the very least had to hide his face: reaching into his survival pack again, he pulled out a new warrior's headdress he had been working on in his spare time: he was working with a few options for when the invasion called, but if the rest of the gang found out he'd been secretly practicing seamistry (or whatever it was called) he'd never live it down – still, in any case the stylized head of a giant Wolfbat would cover his face more than fine.

Pulling it on – more than a little forcefully, since it was a bit too big for him (perhaps his "seamistry" needed a bit more practice) - he leapt into action. Begrudgingly thanking Jet for the guerilla experience he jumped into the trees, escaping his target's notice by moving swiftly above him. Waiting for his moment, he paused directly above the bandit, waiting for him to lower the knife even a fraction for just a moment so he could strike… he didn't have to wait long: perhaps thinking his threat had worked and his attacker had moved on, the bandit moved to put the knife back in his pocket, loosening his grip on the boy for just a moment. Fiercely pulling his floppy mask tight on his head, Sokka leap off his tree branch perch and catapulted himself foot first onto the thief's shoulders.

Sokka immediately bent his body to brace for impact, relying on the bandit's body to cushion him. The bandit was… not so lucky. Sokka laughed softly as he jumped off the crumpled and unconscious form of the would-be kidnapper – he'd be feeling that in the morning, that's for sure. Checking the thief to make sure he was down, he brushed himself off and made to get back to his meat as soon as possible, but-

"Wow, mister! That was awesome!" Oh, right. The kids. The little boy ran toward him admiration, seemingly forgetting all about nearly being killed a moment ago.

"Who…" the girl asked, approaching much more cautiously – a lot wiser, in Sokka's opinion. "Who are you?"

"I-" Sokka began, but he didn't get too far.

"What does it look like?" said the boy, "He's one of those legendary heroes they tell stories about. He's the protector of the innocent!"

"I… uh… what?" he was a bit too stunned to correct him. That might have been a mistake, because the boy picked up right where he left off.

"Yeah, like those stories of mysterious masked thieves," the boy squeaked, more excited every moment, "who patrol the wilds robbing the wealthy to help the poor, like us!" He pulled his dusty shirt over his face like a cloak. "Ooh! Do you know any of them?"

"I…" Alas, interrupted again.

"That doesn't answer my question," the girl said matter-of-factly, "and it's ridiculous. If he's a hero, why is he dressed like a peasant? And why is he wearing that stupid mask?" Stupid? How dare she- well, actually…

With the attack going so well, Sokka had forgotten about his way-too-big mask, which now leant goofily off to one side of his head. Feeling a little self-conscious, he blushed slightly and pulled it upright. "Well, I-"

Cut off again. He _really_ needed to get out of here quick. "Isn't it obvious? All heroes wear masks, it's just cooler! Right? I'll be he's got some awesome secret name – like the Terrible Treetop Terror, or the Wolfbat Warrior!" He made some exaggerated fighting moves, imitating Sokka's daring rescue.

Sokka sighed. This was getting way out of hand, but obviously the quickest way out of here was to play along. "Er… yes!" he said, posing with his hands on his hips in what he guessed was his most convincing heroic pose, "I am um… Wolf-bat…er…Man." He finished awkwardly, and it showed with the skeptical look on the girl's face. Better to get out of here before she starts asking awkward questions. He hated those.

"I have saved you because… um… you were in trouble," if he could have slapped himself on the face with how stupid he sounded he would have. Better to save that for later, though. "But now, I have more people to protect. So run along now, and get home quickly and safely!"

"Yes sir!" said the boy, making to dash off before his sister could interject. She, however, didn't budge.

"But what about him," she said, pointing to the dizzied heap of thief and grabbing her brother before he could run too far. Sokka raised his eyebrows: he had forgotten about the guy and didn't expect them to remember like that. Argh... why couldn't they just go and let him worry about that?

"Don't worry about him," he said pushily, shoving the kids along the path as forcefully as he could, "I'll take care of him." He gave them his best heroic grin and punted them (well, not literally) on their way.

Sokka watched as the kids _finally_ hurried off talking wildly about what just happened – no doubt to spread the word to every disbelieving ear they could find - and breathed a sigh of relief. Getting to work tying the unfortunate thief to a tree (using some rope from his trusty survival pack, of course), he thought about maybe telling everyone back at the camp about this little misadventure. It was certainly one for the story books, but then again…

On the one hand, it was a great show of warrior finesse and skill that he _could_ justifiably brag about for days, and it's always hard to find ways to justify that sort of thing. He'd pulled off moves like a Kyoshi Warrior (oh, Suki… darn, now he's getting himself all sad. Best move on), taken down a real scumbag with style and flair, saved a couple of innocents all by himself, and made himself a potential legend for years to come around these parts all in one evening.

But, on the other hand, the less they knew about the "Treetop Terror," the better. Katara would be bad enough about it, but Toph and Aang would be making jokes for _weeks_. Maybe even _months._ Who knows, could be years? And that's only if they _didn't_ end up seeing the mask. If so, well it was terrible to even imagine, and if there was anything you could say about Sokka, it's that his imagination was surprising;y sharp.

_Yeah, _he thought, making his way back to his abandoned sack (and stuffing his too-big mask as far into his survival pack as it could go, and then a couple more inches just in case), _it's not like this sort of thing will ever end up being important again. Better to just keep it to myself…_

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Yes, never come up again. Of course.

Because I haven't exactly written the rest of the story (I'm a notoriously inconsistent writer - if I hiatus one of these days (which is a given as most of my story ideas are very long), I sincerely apologize), I planned on releasing these separate so I could have a buffer or something_, _but they just felt better both at once_.  
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	3. The Phoenix Reborn: Part 1

**Disclaimer: Do not own Avatar. Do not own Batman elements.**

**Without further ado:**

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><p><strong><span>The Phoenix Reborn: Part 1<span>  
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_Present Day_:

It was a beautiful day in the Fire Nation Capital. Sun shining, but not too hot. Cool winds, but not too windy. Just the right amount of clouds to make some shade, but not too humid. All in all, nearly perfect – the kind of day that made it hard not to be cheerful. Which made Team Avatar's current situation all that more harrowing – Zuko's urgent letter had been anything but cheerful. He hadn't gone into much detail, but the message was clear: to arrive as quickly as they could, as a matter of life and death. Naturally, they had packed up everything on Appa right away and sped off to the Fire Nation as fast as possible, hoping everything was alright.

Upon arriving thinks seemed normal enough: they were directed to the main court of the palace, where several nobles, generals, and important civilians were lounging and chatting – it looked as though a major meeting had just taken place. They scanned the area for any sign of Zuko, and were about to reluctantly question one of the guests, several of whom were staring at them unpleasantly, when suddenly he popped up behind them.

Zuko greeted them as kindly as always, but his appearance did little to reassure them. It looked as though he hadn't been sleeping for quite some time: he had bags under his eyes and he looked very pale – and it was obvious that if it wasn't for the combined effort of Mai and all the handmaidens in the palace forcing him to groom himself on a regular basis he probably would have looked a lot worse. And yet despite his obvious stress, he tried to remain as spirited as he could muster.

"Hey guys," he asked right away, "how has the 'vacation' been going?"

After the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai several months previous, Team Avatar, and occasion Zuko when he could make it, went on a sort of "vacation," really another trip from place to place around the world, helping people, spreading the word of the war's end, and trying to cultivate peace. It was a not-so-surprisingly arduous job, which is why they mixed helping people with taking in the sights, having adventures, and generally having fun as friends – the same as they would before. However, as time went on Zuko could join them less and less as his duties in the Fire Nation began calling more and more urgently, and eventually he stopped joining them at all: at first they thought his letter was to tell them he would meet them, but it just left them in confusion.

"Never mind that," Katara replied, "what's going on? And why do you look so beat down?"

Zuko frowned and sighed, "I can't talk to you about it here – in fact, I'm not even sure it's wise for you to have arrived like this…"

"Well, in case you forgot, oh Mighty Fire Lord, you invited us!" Toph near shouted, glowering. Several people were turning their noses up at her shoeless feet, and it was starting to annoy her.

Zuko cringed. "Yeah, well…" He looked around, spotting a few people in the court that he apparently would rather not have listening in, and frowned. One or two of them noticed and pretended to ignore him, though it was obvious they were paying attention. One other man, a slightly overweight noble with grayish hair, smirked slyly at him and started walking over. Zuko's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"… meet me outside in the courtyard – nobody should be around there now. I have to take care of this, I'll see you in a few minutes."

The gang exchanged a nervous glance and shuffled out of the hall – Aang and Katara taking up the rear as the customary rush of people clamored to greet the Avatar. Sokka and Toph rolled their eyes and smirked as the two were swamped by stuffy nobles who wanted to top off their day by telling everyone they knew they had shaken hands with Avatar Aang, and hurried out before someone recognized them as Sokka of the Water Tribe and the Earthbending Master Toph Bei Fong – which they definitely didn't want for patience's sake.

Attention for their efforts varied, but Sokka knew the less unnecessary interaction with the Fire Nation's privileged the better. Aang tended to get respect wherever they went simply for being the Avatar, even if in the Fire Nation it was mostly false praise hiding disdain, but here the rest of them got derision at best. He and Katara, particularly, got large amounts of disrespect for being so integral in the fall of the old regime – the kingdom, particularly it's elite, was a long ways away from adapting to the change from being the most dominant of the four nations. Katara had even had the nerve to personally depose ex-Fire Lady Azula, though as the Avatar's "significant other" people were generally forced to act like they respected her. Sokka, on the other hand, got everything from condescension for being a so-called powerless peasant who dared to stand among the elite to outright contempt for daring to be such and yet still plan the destruction of the most powerful vessels in the Fire Nation fleet. Never mind that he had helped invent the technology behind those airships in the first place! In any case, he supposed he ought to get used to dealing with snobbishness – he already had to get used to being the least recognized among the gang, and had seen prejudice all his life, plus his father had been training him and his sister to represent the Water Tribes to other nations, but at the moment he wanted no more contact than was strictly necessary. Which, unfortunately, meant leaving Aang in the lurch every once in a while.

And due to having been left in said lurch, Aang and Katara arrived in the courtyard several minutes later than their two friends. As they walked up Momo found a tree and happily leapt into it's leaves, with a mood completely the opposite of his owners.

"Thanks for the help, guys!" Aang grumbled as they arrived, both looking sour.

"Hey, you gotta get used to that kind of thing eventually, twinkletoes," Toph said unabashedly as she lounged on a nearby bench, rubbing her feet.

Sokka smirked. "Yeah, Aang. You're the Avatar. You'll be shaking hands and kissing babies for the rest of your life!" Sokka turned to his sister with a mock-motherly tone, "and if you're serious about this whole 'being together' thing you're going to have to get used to the limelight too, young lady."

Katara gave Sokka a look that could melt ice, but Aang just shrugged, "doesn't mean we want to start now."

Katara looked at him and her face softened. Ever since their kiss after Ozai's defeat, they had been ever closer, and she found it ever harder to be angry around him. "Alright," she said briskly, "we'll get you back for that later. Right now I think we should focus on what's going with Zuko."

"What's there to focus on?" Toph had yet to move from her relaxation, "it's not like we know anything."

"But I gotta admit," Sokka said, "it's pretty odd. Zuko's usually pretty relaxed when dealing with those snakes, but now he seemed almost panicked."

"Something must be up," Aang said ominously. Nobody moved to disagree. There was a moment's silence.

Eventually, Toph spoke up. "I just wish he'd hurry it up – it's not like we have all day," she was as blasé as always, but they could hear the tiniest bit of nervousness even in her voice.

After that, nobody seemed to think of anything to say: whatever was going on, it was weighing on all their minds. Unable to think of anything to say, they all just stood around (or sat, in Toph's case) uneasily, waiting for the Fire Lord to come out and give them some kind of information about what was going on.

It was nearly a half hour before Zuko strolled wearily into the courtyard, looking both morose and relieved at the same time. He motioned for them to follow him into the most heavily shaded area, looking around to see if anyone unwanted was lurking around. Satisfied that they were completely alone, he turned to his friends with a half-smile on his face.

"So… I hope your trip was-"

"Enough, Zuko," Katara said, giving the boy a stern glare, "Spill it, what's going on?"

Zuko sighed deeply, as if he was hoping he wouldn't have to say it aloud so soon, "someone broke my father and Azula out of prison last week."

"WHAT?" Everyone shouted. Toph jumped up from the new bench she found and joined the rest in the middle of the alcove.

"Do you know who did it? Where did they go?" Sokka pressed, his mind brimming with terrible possibilities.

"We don't know – whoever it was, they were organized, skilled, and powerful. The security around them stood no chance, yet despite brazenly attacking two of the most guarded prisons in the Fire Nation they managed to escape nearly without a trace. Luckily, a pair of very dedicated guards managed to break away from the destruction and follow them. That's the only good news – hopefully they'll be able to send a messenger hawk with their destination soon."

Everyone's faces mirrored the same somber expression: this was not good by any stretch of the imagination. "But I don't get it," Katara said after a pause, "why all the secrecy? I would think you'd be publically asking for the Avatar's help with something like this going on!" The others, minus Sokka who was still in thought, nodded in agreement.

Zuko sighed again, choosing his words carefully. It was a long moment before he spoke. "Things… aren't that good here these days. You might have noticed, but many, especially people with clout, didn't take well to us falling into peacetime and cooperation – there are many who think I'm leading us to weakness. Don't panic," he added hastily, as the gang looked alarmed, "I'm not in much danger of losing the country. Yet, anyway. But there are people out there, people with connections, and they're just looking for a scandal like this to show I'm not fit to lead us into the future: the two threats to the stability of the empire on the loose and me having to run to the Avatar for help… it would be the perfect impetus for them to claim I was weak and rally forces against me. The last thing I want to do if fight down my own people."

Everyone looked grim at this news, except Katara, who was visibly furious. "What?" she shouted – Zuko winced and motioned for her to keep her voice down, which she did reluctantly, "Don't they realize how much a threat those two are to everyone? To the whole world?"

"Katara, all these people care about is their own personal power, and as an expansionist power they stand to be much more powerful than as peaceful diplomats. And I can't just remove them all wholesale from power – I want to be a better ruler than my father, and I can't do so by forcibly making the nation follow my bidding, that would incite rebellion even faster" Zuko explained, adding the last part as Katara moved to interrupt. She nodded with bitter understanding.

"That's the same reason I didn't ask you, Aang, or any of you for help publically," he continued, "the man I talked to in the hall is the leader many of the more opposed nobles rally behind. A smug, greedy snake who's trying as hard as he can to keep the Fire Nation as it was. He's recently been spreading around a big anti-foreigner sentiment: he makes the claim that under my rule the Fire Nation will become subservient to the other nations, and as a result many want little if any interference from others in Fire Nation affairs. He and his cronies could very easily twist your help with this problem to their own ends."

"Seems convenient," Sokka noted, holding his chin thoughtfully.

Zuko grinned ironically. "Yes. It does, doesn't it?"

"So, if we can't help, why are we here?" Aang asked, liking the situation less and less.

"Because I'm only going to appease them so far. I am going to show them I can take care of my country: I will be going to track down my father myself, and stop whatever he's planning."

"By yourself?" They all gaped at him in shock, Katara voicing what they were all thinking.

"Are you crazy?" Toph added.

"Not only do you have your father and Azula to deal with," Katara continued, "but whoever broke them out, and I'm willing to bet they'll be dangerous!"

"I know, I know," despite it all, Zuko was heartened that his friends, at least, cared so much about his welfare, "but it's a given that my father is in charge of whatever is going on, but he still has no bending." He nodded at Aang for emphasis, who returned the gesture, "and he'll probably be using Azula as some sort of second, but she's still… off…" he shared a quick glance with Katara, the only one who would really know what he was talking about, "and that just leaves his mysterious liberators."

"Those odds still don't look good Zuko," Aang said, unconvinced, "you'll need some help."

"Don't worry, I don't plan on going alone. I can't publically ask you all for help, but there are ways around that."

Sokka's eyes lit up, as he caught on first, "Ah! A secret sort of thing, eh?" Zuko grinned at him.

"You guessed it. I can't publically as you for help, but I can take one of you with me in disguise as my own agent."

Aang stepped forward right away, "then I'll-"

"No, Aang. It can't be you. Nor you Katara, or you Toph. Your bending would give everything away: even if you used Firebending Aang," he added when Aang began to disagree, "the wrong people would recognize who my partner was merely because they know all the firebenders I _would_ ask, and know that they weren't there. No, I need a combatant who won't be recognized."

"But, if you can't use any of us," Toph started slowly, "then that leaves…" Everyone's eyes moved towards Sokka, who looked stunned.

Zuko nodded. "Yes, I-" He didn't get far before Katara angrily interrupted him.

"What? Just you and Sokka versus a band of crooks strong enough to take down whole prisons, your father and Azula? This might be the stupidest idea you've ever had, and you've had some pretty bad ideas!" Zuko winced, but he understood why she was so worked up about this. There might have been a time years and years ago that he would have been as protective of Azula. "What makes you think Sokka won't be as easily recognized as the rest of us?"

"Well, he's still pretty distinctive…" Zuko said slowly, looking over his candidate, "but his lack of bending would make it less likely for him to stick out. Plus, you've been trained by Piandao, haven't you?" Sokka nodded. "That's not exactly common knowledge, and as his student your style is reminiscent enough of his that most would think you were a native warrior."

Katara was not so easily mollified. "Oh really? Well, if you need a warrior, why don't you get someone from the Fire Nation army? Heck, why don't you get your girlfriend to help – she's certainly given us a run for our money one or twice, I'm sure she can handle an army. And speaking of which, why not get her to contact Ty Lee and contact Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors! They're not benders!"

"Katara," Sokka said indignantly – he was starting to get annoyed that she was talking to him as though he wasn't there. "You already know Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors are busy with aid all over the Earth and Water nations. I _am_ in heavy contact with her, you know." Katara sighed briefly through her angry – she had forgotten about that, and she realized Sokka was angered by her trying to drag Suki into danger in his place. "They can't spare anyone – and I'm sure Zuko's tried, right?" He gestured to Zuko, who nodded hastily, and added more before Katara could argue again.

"Plus, I know she can take care of herself – trust me, I do – but I'm not going to pull her into this. I love her, you can't blame me for being protective," he winced, realizing he had just touched on the same reason for Katara's fury, but didn't back down, "And as for someone from the army, you know as well as I do that the average Fire Nation soldier is nowhere near the level of any of you, and pretty much all the more skilled soldiers are either of questionable allegiance or busy with the White Lotus – you know as well as I do that everyone is busy with aid or post-war politics. You're the only ones I can trust… so what do you say, Sokka?"

"You know what _I _say?" Katara yelled before Sokka could get a word out. "This is ridiculous – it's far too dangerous a plan for just two people-"

"Sis."

"- You two are outnumbered and way in over your head, so if you think I'm going to-"

"**Sis.**"

"-let you two go running off to get yourself killed, you've got another thing coming, and I-"

"**KATARA!**" Everyone jumped as Sokka lost his patience. Katara stopped and stared open eyed at her brother, as if pleading him to agree with her. "Katara, this sounds like a solid plan. Well, maybe not solid," he chuckled, "but it sounds like the best option we've got right now. We have to do this: Ozai and Azula could do who knows what to the world, and Zuko needs backup." He walked forward and held her hand reassuringly, "You don't always have to take care of me – I am a warrior of the Water tribe, you know. Plus, me and Zuko have taken on a whole prison before…" he and Zuko shared a smirk, "well… we had Suki, but you get the point. We can handle whatever they can throw at us." He turned to Zuko and nodded determinedly, "I'll do it."

Katara looked down worriedly, but seeing Sokka's logic and determination she knew she couldn't stop him. Aang noticed her expression, and though he knew as well as she did that at this point this was basically going to happen no matter what, he felt he had to say something. "But what about the rest of us?"

"Yeah!" Toph said, punching her fist into her other palm, "if you think we're going to just sit here while you guys get all the fun you've got another thing coming."

Zuko grinned. "Wouldn't dream of it. You guys are backup. If things go too badly, to heck with politics: I'm not letting my father get away. If we end up in trouble, I'll send a message back to you to bring in the cavalry – if it comes to that, we'll settle it as it comes. But first we're going to try and settle this as stealthily as possible."

Toph snorted, not fully believing things could go that well. "With Sokka's luck, you'll be calling us within five minutes of getting there."

"Hey!"

Everyone else laughed, and with that the tension finally began to fade away. "So…" Zuko said to Sokka after he finished chuckling, "all we need is a decent disguise for you to hide behind. Any ideas?"

"Not really…" Sokka rubbed his chin thoughtfully, but nothing came to mind right away. It's not like he could fool the ex-Pheonix Lord by walking up to him as Wang Fire, and there was nothing besides that except… a memory of an altercation in the woods sprang to the top of his memory. "Wait! There is something. A little… er… outfit I was working on while I was getting ready for the invasion." He reddened as Aang, Toph and Katara looked at him curiously… with a few sly smiles he didn't appreciate. "But it abandoned it – it covered up too much and plus I'm not exactly good at seamistry…"

"Who knew? Sokka was taking up sewing!"

"Hey! Anyways, it's not all that well made."

"I can imagine," Zuko chuckled.

"Hey!"

"But," he continued, "it's a start. I can trust most of the handmaidens, the royal tailor is a good friend, and Piandao has a few blacksmiths he recommended to me. We can have a full suit made up for you in no time – which is good, because we need to work as quickly as possible. Do you have the design with you?"

"Yeah," Sokka said, "in fact, we can get started now. Let's go."

Aang interrupted as the two turned to leave. He was starting to feel useless, and he always hated that, "So wait, what should the rest of us do?"

"While Sokka and I are doing anything related to this, and especially while we're out tracking my father down, just act like you're here to check on the kingdom. People might be hostile towards you, but no one will suspect anything different. And always act like Sokka's with you," Aang crossed his arms while Toph rolled her eyes – that much was obvious, "Heh… sorry. I guess you already knew that. Anyways, most importantly, for the love of all that is holy don't tell Mai anything, anything at all, about what's going on. She doesn't know what I'm planning to do about this, and she'd rather lock me up than let me do this on my own."

"I know the feeling," Katara grumbled.

Zuko smiled, "no offense, Katara, but Mai a bit more terrifying than you are. I don't want to face her wrath if I don't have to."

Katara was not impressed by his attempt at light humor: she narrowed her eyes at him, daring him to imply she wasn't terrifying again. Zuko laughed nervously, looking around for support which didn't come: Aang and Toph were wisely staying out of it. Finally, Sokka noticed his friend's distress and, figuring it would be counterproductive if his sister killed him, pulled him along.

"Come on, we have to work quickly don't we?" he said quickly, tugging Zuko out of the courtyard, "Don't wait up guys, we'll be back!"

The three watched Sokka and Zuko walk away in uneasy silence. This was a lot to absorb, and a whole lot worse than they had even expected when they arrived. None of them were completely confident about this plan, even if it was the best they could come with.

But Toph wasn't about to let distress take over her or her friends' minds. "Well, you heard the man!" she said starkly, "Let's mingle!"

There was an unenthusiastic rumble of agreement at the thought of entering the rabble of pompous nobles and veiled prejudice again, but they had to do what they had to do. The trio turned and walked back to the hall, Aang and Toph taking up the lead, as they didn't notice Katara hanging back. She looked back worriedly at where Zuko and Sokka had walked off to, not liking the situation at all. As if on cue, Momo dropped down from a tree above her and landed on her shoulder, chittering at her anxiously.

"Yeah… I know Momo," she said, rubbing the lemur as she walking off after her friend and boyfriend, "This doesn't look good."

* * *

><p>"<em>This<em> is your design?"

"Hey!" Sokka protested as he showed Zuko his all-the-more-embarrassingly floppy Wolfbat headdress, "It was a while ago, and I told you I'm not that good with that whole knitting stuff. Cut me some slack!"

"No, sorry, I mean I was surprised! When you said you had something I didn't expect something so creative," Zuko explained (another "hey!" from Sokka, but Zuko ignored him), "we can work with this – Wolfbats are common in many places, even in the Fire Nation, but they're still pretty intimidating. It'd work well for the kind of secretive warrior we need.

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I did make it, you know."

"Ah… heh… yeah. Sorry," Zuko stammered, and the two broke into some more refreshingly tension breaking laughter, "Anyways, we can get this to the royal tailor right away. Combine it with some light body armor and a few weapons, and we're set."

"Sounds like a plan. When will it be done?"

"I've been preparing a bit for this, so they're already partially working on it. If we get to work now, we should be done by tomorrow."

"Perfect!" Sokka beamed, "then what are we waiting for? Let's go get me fitted! To the tailor, chum!"

* * *

><p>If they weren't looking forward to spending time with the Fire Nation's elite before, actually being there mingling with them only made things worse. Granted, several of them were polite, and a couple downright genial, but the sad fact was the majority of them were downright unpleasant. Poorly hidden sneers, scowls, and scoffs, veiled insults, and an air of not-so-subtle rejected met them as soon as they entered the room: to be expected, since they were directly responsible for the loss of their nation's world domination (and their own respective payoffs) not half a year before, but it still hurt.<p>

In general they decided to stay out of the way of the worst of them. Toph when straight to the food being served and pigged out, not caring about who might be watching, while Aang and Katara stayed together and chatted with some of the politer nobles – like they had found while they were travelling through the Fire Nation in the past year, not all of them were nasty or even antagonistic, far from it. But as the most connected citizens of the nation, most of them lost a lot in the transition to peacetime, so even the ones who agreed with the dissolving of the imperial powers were a little bitter – but they could tell the politest ones from the rest as those who weren't afraid to state this and actually get into a conversation regardless: several others would keep a veneer of culture while tossing insults their way.

Nevertheless, they had as good a time as they could, and were even starting to enjoy it: a few of the more adventurous nobles were curious about Aang's Avatar abilities and had asked him to show them some of the power that had defeated the Phoenix King, and if there was anything Aang loved it was a little innocent showing off. Katara rolled her eyes and took a few steps back, fully expecting Aang to start with a few air-ball tricks, when suddenly he was interrupted by a stiff hand on his shoulder.

Aang's eyes widened, and he almost took off with the mystery person still hanging onto his back. He stumbled, but managed to stop himself. He turned to see who had interrupted him, and his eyes met that of a slightly aged man with gray hair and a pronounced stomach: the same man Zuko had been talking to earlier, the one who had been causing him so much trouble politically. Aang's eyes narrowed, but he didn't say anything.

The man didn't seem to notice or care that he had almost been flung into the air. Instead, he stared impassively at the young bender, as if shaping him up. His eyebrows were thin and leering, and his mouth was carefully set. Noticing the young man in front of him wasn't going to say anything after a few moments, he spoke in a brusque but conversational tone. "Well well well, if it isn't the Avatar…"

"Yeah… that's me," Aang said, much politer than most would have been, "pleased to meet you."

"Of course," he replied. He smiled, but it seemed practiced rather than natural. He did not introduce himself. "What brings you here, oh great Avatar." The title came out almost mockingly, but Aang decided not to let it faze him.

"Just checking on things, making sure everything's stable and… y'know… stuff like that," Aang suddenly felt sheepish. He did not have much experience with the kind of duties and responsibilities he would have as the Avatar, and this man was the last person he wanted to see that.

"Yes, the political situation here is… tenuous at best," the emotionless smile on his face widened. Aang decided this man was commendably good at faking civility when he needed to, "but luckily there are those of us here who want to help us get out of this… situation… we've found ourselves in all for the better, yes?" His eyes bored into Aang's calculatingly.

"Yeah…" Aang couldn't stop his eyes from narrowing again: even if he hadn't already known this man was trouble, he would have gotten a bad read off of him. Unfortunately, he noticed and his face soured for a moment. Fortunately, Katara had made her way back to him and backed him up, standing beside Aang and meeting the man with an equally suspicious glare. He seemed unfazed.

"Ah, and this must be the Water Tribe girl who fought alongside our Fire Lord," his eyes were cold as stone, and his smile turned nasty, "aren't there usually two of you?" he said with a definite jeer in his voice.

Katara clenched her fists behind her back. Aang grabbed her hand and held it to help her calm down, but she could still barely keep the anger out of her voice. "My _brother,_" she clarified, "is here somewhere. He intended to see about how your army's demilitarizing."

She smirked as her explanation hit paydirt – the man looked furious that the Water Tribe boy would dare pass judgment on the Fire Nation's military, which was a good sign that he believe it. "Yes, yes…" he said, not letting his obvious anger enter his voice and instead keeping his false cheerfulness, "well, I suppose he has a lot to be interested in. Our military has things others in the world can only dream of."

The two resisted the urge to point out that they had probably seen everything the Fire Nation's military had to offer and beaten it all, and instead nodded vaguely. The man's smile became a lot more smug, unaware that they were silently laughing to themselves.

Suddenly, he glanced to the side and laughed with a noise like one rock scraping against another. "Goodness, it that yours?" Aang and Katara followed his gaze to the feast table, where Toph was busy eating through some of the tastier finger foods. She wasn't making a mess, but she wasn't being particularly reserved either – just like always – and the man apparently found this extremely funny, "look at that, no shoes at all, what a scene! Heh, those Earthbenders, so... nuanced. Do you know her?"

This time both Aang and Katara had to hold their anger back – they squeezed each other's hands for the strength to calm down. "She's a friend," Aang replied coldly, "A very good friend. A master Earthbender in fact."

The man still looked amused, but saw in their eyes that he had crossed some kind of line and didn't continue the issue. "I see… well, anyways, on to the main reason I walked up to you… sorry if I rambled a bit." He did not look sorry at all. "Have either of you seen the Fire Lord? I have some… business I need to discuss with him."

"No, we haven't," Aang lied. "Not since we arrived."

"No? But certainly he's told you…" the man stared shrewdly at the two, obviously suspecting something.

"Told us what?" Katara replied, eyes narrowing again, "what are you talking about?"

"Come to think of it, Zuko was pretty secretive when we met," Aang said with an air of thoughtfulness.

"What do you know?"

The man's smug smile returned – he still looked suspicious, but also looked like he had heard exactly what he wanted to hear. "We'll, if the Fire Lord didn't deign it right to inform you, I don't think I should be the one to do it. Sorry to bother you, Avatar." He turned to leave, but hung his head back with one last smirk. "I think we will meet again."

"Count on it," Aang said darkly. The man did a small double take, but kept on walking away, with the two glaring after him. After he had gotten a good distance away, Aang turned and smiled at his girlfriend. "Good one, Katara! He really bought it." He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, and she blushed in response.

"Well, I've got a lot of experience dealing with jerks. I wouldn't've gotten through life with Sokka without it," she replied, smiling playfully. Aang laughed jovially and she smiled wider: she could hear that laugh all day. But she looked over to where their new "friend" had walked to, and her mood darkened. "He's going to be trouble, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Aang said furtively, "I think so…"

"Hey!" came a high voice from behind them. Aang and Katara jumped, and the voice, belonging to one Toph Bei Fong, laughed. "So, what did I miss?"

Aang and Katara looked at each other. They knew Toph was an expert at acting around aristocrats, especially the nastier ones, but she still didn't need to know what that man had said about her. "Nothing much. We'll fill you in on the finer points later."

"That bad, huh? This whole party is one big ball of annoying, isn't it?" she put her hands behind her head, completely bored.

"Tell us about it," Katara sighed, "hopefully whatever Sokka and Zuko are working on is worth it."

"It better be," Toph said irritatedly. "He's gotta pay us back for this somehow."

Aang nodded reasonably, "we can ask him all about it when we get back. That is, if he's there when we do." The three exchanged a look – they didn't know exactly when Sokka and Zuko would return.

As it turned out, they only had to endure two more hours of unpleasantness before they were able to inch away and back to their quarters – the Fire Lord always kept lavish rooms in their own separate section in the palace open for his friends – and when they arrived Sokka and Zuko were still not back. Without a clue what else to do, they decided to go sleep and hope they finished by morning.

* * *

><p>"HEY GUYS! WAKE UP! YOU'VE GOT TO CHECK THIS OUT!"<p>

Aang woke with a start and nearly crashed into the ceiling. He leaped to the floor, his heart going a mile a minute, and it took him a few moments to realize the voice outside his door belonged to Sokka. Grumbling, he grabbed some clothes and threw them on, speeding up when he remembered this meant Sokka was probably done with whatever he was doing. Annoyed as he was to be woken up like that, he was still excited to see what they had been up to.

"Hey Sokka!" he said, tearing out of his room as cheerfully as ever, "How'd it go?"

"Perfect!" Sokka beamed, "Wait 'til you see it. Let's get the girls up, shall we?" Taking a moment to verify that Aang and Katara had, in fact, slept in separate rooms, with a glare only an older brother could accomplish, he strode over to Katara's bedroom and pounded on the door, "HEY KATARA! GET YOUR BUTT OUT HERE!"

The door slammed open, revealing Katara, who was crossing her arms in annoyance, and Toph, who looked like she had just fallen out of bed. "This had better be good," Toph grumbled.

"Oh it is!" Sokka said dramatically, oblivious to everyone's irritation, "follow me if you want to be amazed!"

The others shrugged and followed behind him, through hallways and corridors and down, down many stairs. Their quarters were far above ground – luckily many of the palace walls were made of stone, so Toph could follow on her own – and they assumed they were headed to a secret room on one of the floors or something. They were thus very surprised when they reached ground level and instead of taking them to a room Sokka started fiddling with a random sculpture in one of the side halls.

"Uh… Sokka?" Aang said confusedly, "what are you doing?"

"Just gimme a minute," he replied, concentrating on something they couldn't see. He reached behind the statue's ear, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and clicked something inside its head. Suddenly the entire wall where the sculpture stood silently slid aside, revealing another set of stairs going below ground.

A collective gasp echoed from the gang, but Sokka just continued walking forward, only pausing to make sure the secret door slid closed behind them. He kept his eyes forward and was even humming to himself, while the rest of the gang looked around at the mysterious tunnel with surprise.

"Sokka, where are you taking us?" Katara asked as they reached the bottom of the long staircase, "better yet, where are we?"

"This is a cave system under the capital," Sokka said, leading them into a wide room with many passages leading out of it, "perfect for working on things in secret." He picked out a hallway from one of the many exits and led them on to another dark tunnel.

"How did you find out about this?"

"I found them in Fire Lord Sozin's memoirs," The gang - minus Toph - jumped as Zuko's voice came from out of sight – the sound echoed oddly through the tunnel, making it impossible to tell where he was. Clearing his throat, he stepped out from a side-tunnel they hadn't noticed in the darkness, "there are a bunch of caves under the city. In fact, there are tunnels under most of the major cities in the empire. Sozin was planning on using them as underground bases, I think, though my father only used them for panic rooms and hiding things, as you saw when you invaded. In fact, I don't even think my father knew about most of these, and I'm sure nobody we have to worry about knew about this section."

"It's amazing down here," Toph said, "It goes farther than I can even see! There are twists and turns everywhere! Why didn't I notice this from the surface."

"Well, we're deep, and there's metal residue on lots of the walls – like I said, Sozin was probably trying to make some sort of base down here," he replied. Toph nodded: she was the foremost expert on bending metal, but she was still working on seeing through it. "Anyways," he continued, "follow me the rest of the way, there isn't much more to go."

The gang was silent as Zuko and Sokka led them through several more turns and twists deeper into the caverns, so many only Toph could remember where they were going exactly, and that was only because she already knew the layout.

Eventually, they came to a stop in front of a seemingly innocuous dead end. "Alright, we're here," Zuko announced to general confusion.

"But…" Aang started.

"Just watch." Zuko put his hand on a conspicuous outcropping twisted it in a very exact way. On command, just like the secret wall in the palace, the dead end slid away to reveal an enormous room with several levels, though the only one being used was the one directly in front of them: several people the gang recognized as handmaidens and aides from the palace were hurrying around, organizing things and generally attending to a stand directly in front of them, on which stood a very unique suit.

"So? What do you think?" Sokka said proudly, gesturing to the outfit as though it were his pride and joy. The gang oohed and ran over to look it over.

The suit was a mix of armor and fabric in a dark grey: mostly cloth and leather, it covered in two parts all of the wearer's body, except a small part of the face. The cloth was tightly bound and tight, and a slight tap revealed that there were slight traces of metal woven in for extra protection. The top area was a long sleeved brigandine with extra plating on the torso and a slots across the waist for weapons and scabbards. The arms and legs were adorned with small braces on the forearms and ankles woven into the cloth and long climbing gloves at the ends. On the shoulders were lean guards, and between them, above the top of the brigandine, was draped a strip of solid chest armor, with a symbol of a wolfbat engraved into it. Speaking of which, the most distinctive part of the armor was the cowl, which was made of leather and covered the top of the head, leaving one the bottom half uncovered. At the top were two small ears, like that of a wolbat, standing up intimidatingly.

"We thought it would be best to have as strong an armor as we could, but to mainly focus on making it lightweight and easy to move in, in contrast with the heavy, clunky soldiers' armor," explained a man standing next to the stand, who the gang assumed as the royal tailor, or perhaps the blacksmith, "he'll be slightly less protected, but a good deal more agile, perfect for his style, as far as we've been informed…"

"I wanted to add a cape, but they all turned me down," Sokka added disappointedly.

Zuko rolled his eyes. "We told you already Sokka, in a mission like this is might get in the way." Sokka rolled his eyes right back, and gave the gang a look that told them this wasn't the last they would hear of it.

"But what about the color?" Katara asked, looking up from the armor for the first time, "Why grey? Why not blue, or even red for the Fire Nation?"

"Well, this was our idea," Zuko said, gesturing to himself and Sokka, "Giving him Water Tribe colors would be a dead giveaway, and he wanted to looks as though he were a free agent, which would make it a bit harder for him to be identified. Plus, we're focusing on stealth, and this will make him harder to see in the dead of night."

"You guys sure went to a lot of trouble…" Aang noted, looking back at the armor.

"Yeah, well… I didn't want to drag you guys into this without giving you adequate protection. It'll just be the two of us, and between the two Sokka's the most vulnerable, given the lack of bending…" Zuko looked down at the floor, ignoring another "hey!" from Sokka.

"Hmph," Sokka crossed him arms in annoyance, "Whatever. So what do you guys think?"

Toph smirked playfully at him. "I would say it looks completely ridiculous, but I think it suits you, Sokka."

"Thanks, Toph I- HEY!" the rest of the gang laughed, as well as the tailor who chuckled behind his hand. Sokka scowled, but accepted the joke with a sigh. "Well I think it's great. I can't wait to practice with this – now where did I put Boomerang?" Sokka turned to a table the rest of them hadn't noticed before, covered in weapons and trinkets.

"Sorry Sokka, but I think Boomerang might be a bit too conspicuous," Zuko said, pulling Sokka's beloved weapon out of his pocket and handing it to Katara for safe keeping, "But don't worry, we've got- huh?" One of the handmaidens from the palace had hurried to his side and whispered something in his ear. "Hmm… you tell him," he pointed to a man who could only be the blacksmith, who was fiddling with the different objects on the table. "I'll be right back." With that, he turned and quickly exited out the secret entrance.

"Yes… well," the blacksmith sound nervous, apparently he wasn't used to so much attention from both the Fire Lord and the Avatar, "Since you can't use your usual boomerang, we created a substitute." He handed Sokka a thin black weapon, weighted in places just like his boomerang, but dark to match his armor's look, with no holes in the design like his regular weapon. Sokka smiled wistfully at it – he would rather have used his tried and true Boomerang, but he supposed this was an almost worthy replacement. Satisfied that Sokka accepted the weapon, the blacksmith continued. "We've also created some backup boomerangs," he gestured to four identical copies on the table, "and alternate versions of your other weapons," he gestured further to less distinctive recreations of his club and dagger. "And the final touch, a sword crafted especially for you – one of my best!" he confidently lifted a sleek blade from the table and presented it to the young warrior.

Sokka looked down at the sword with conflicted thoughts. These weapons would work, no doubt, but his regular weapons held a special place in his heart. He had made them himself, many of them from the spoils of a hunt, and his previous sword had been double special, made from the heart thanks to a million to one encounter with metal beyond the stars. Sadly, he knew he might never see Space Sword again – they were only ever able to find Boomerang after everything went down. This would do for now – but he knew he would have to make his own replacements eventually.

He smiled at the blacksmith. "Thank you. I'll use them with pride." The man beamed at him and bowed low, gesturing for Sokka to take a look at the various weapons himself. He had just begun to test the weight of the club when Zuko tore back into the chamber, completely out of breath. Everyone's eyes turned to him, and he stared directly at the gang do deliver his solemn news.

"We've found them."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Sorry for the delay folks. I woke up one day and realized it was two weeks since I put in the prologues, and I hadn't written a sentence of this first part. Blame my planning mind: I've got a lot of the later stuff planned out - stuff for the second and third parts of this saga which won't even be put into this set of stories - but not so much the beginnings. So I'm making it up to you with a longer chapter than normal. I'll try to be better about this in the future.<strong>

**Addendum: Some people may have noticed a thing or two that's missing from the whole "Batman" connection already - some of which won't be appearing in this at all. But don't worry, Sokka will get his cape eventually, I assure you. And his weapons shall return.**


	4. The Phoenix Reborn: Part 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. I do, however, lay claim to a far-too-long hiatus.**

* * *

><p><strong>The Phoenix Reborn: Part 2<strong>

Everyone whirled into action. "Where are they?" "Are you ready to take them?" "Should we make more preparations?" "When will you leave?" "Are you sure you don't want us to come?" The questions came dozens per second: Zuko could barely hear one before one of the others had another to fill it's place. Practice for hectic interviews as the Fire Lord, he supposed.

"Alright, calm down everyone! One at a time. We're going to have to deal with this calmly and intelligently if we want to win," he said, incidentally calming himself down at the same time. The rest of the gang nodded, taking a small moment getting their bearings.

Finally, Sokka spoke. "First thing's first. Where did they end up?"

"There's actually something very odd about that. According to our information they've ended up at some kind of phantom island. It's not on any maps we know of." Sokka idly wondered whether Wan Shi Tong's charts might have included it, but shook himself off the thought before allowed himself to get distracted.

"Then how are you going to get there?" Aang asked.

"The only way will be to follow the messenger hawk back there. That being the case, the fastest way there is by airship."

"How many men can you bring as backup?" Katara stared pointedly at the Fire Lord, who knew she still was not happy about the "solo mission" idea, but at this point reservations were moot.

"Not many, if any," Zuko sighed. "Turns out our plan for a small scale stealth mission isn't just the best way, it's the only way. The island is small, made up of a single, twisted mountain – no clearings, barely any beach, and little level ground at all. The guards believe there are extensive tunnels and structures underground, and there is no area an army could dock safely. We wouldn't even be able to get a large group of soldiers _to_ the island without being sitting ducks, let alone funnel them through those structures."

"But surely you could-"

"No Katara. We've already made our decision. This is the way it's going to be. Just… don't tell Mai until we're safely away from the capital. I don't think any of us could survive that."

For a moment it felt like there was a heavy weight of silence bearing down on the room, as nobody moved to say anything. Then, Toph chuckled. Aang wasn't far behind her, and the rest of the gang followed right after, Zuko's joke finally breaking the tension.

Not even Zuko or Katara were unable to stop themselves from joining in, no matter how hard they tried to keep themselves serious. Soon the whole tunnel was full of the sound of cathartic laughter.

"Hahaha, yeah," Zuko said in a voice still only half solemn, "… but I'm serious. If she finds out we're all going to die."

The room fell abruptly silent again, save for the sound of more than a few gulps.

"Right… so… off to the hangar."

The Lord of the Fire Nation's secrets are decidedly wider than just political secrets and the occasional covert plan – throughout the generations Fire Lords have kept anything from secret intel to impregnable bunkers to private armies of dragons in a wide net of secret stores that only the royal family truly knows the extent of, some members even more so than others, as the secret array of tunnels clearly showed, but that was just the tip of the iceberg it seemed.

Swearing them to secrecy (just as a formality, for as Toph bluntly pointed out that after telling them his secret plans and showing them his private cave making them swear secrecy now was a bit of a moot point), Zuko covertly led them back up out of tunnels and back up to the endless hallways of the main castle. Still avoiding the main room, in case anyone would wonder where they had all been together, Zuko took the long way around to a stairway in the rear of the castle, usually used by the servants and perfect for inconspicuousness.

After a walk that none of them were impolite enough to note was far too long, the finally arrived at their destination (not even Toph, though she did make one or two derisive grunts): the door to Zuko's royal chambers.

"Wait… that's where we were going all this time?" Aang said, "your bedroom? Didn't you say you wanted to avoid Mai?"

Zuko blushed as Sokka and Toph snickered under their breath, and Katara hid a smile behind her hand. He flinched off Aang's comment with a cold glare that silencing his friends, though Toph, hanging onto Sokka due to the upper quarters being mostly wooden and unfit for seeing through, still looked very amused – naturally, given that she couldn't see the glare and wouldn't have cared if she had.

"_Anyways,_" Zuko said sternly, "Mai isn't here – she's visiting her parents a long ways from here, and she's thankfully not coming back for a while, which means now is a perfect opportunity to show you this!"

As he led them inside, the others had to resist the urge to marvel at how lavish the room was – with expensive decorations, ornate floor and walls, and a bed larger and more extravagant than they had even seen in Ba Sing Se, Zuko's quarters were a sight to behold. But while they, with the exception of Toph, stared around the room in wonder, Zuko was barely interested in it – he strode directly over to a large portrait at the side of his bed, a face the rest of them recognized from his stories as his mother, Ursa. He stared at the painting for a moment without moving, mumbling something under his breath that the others couldn't hear – though they had no trouble recognizing the longing look on his face. Not wanting to interrupt, the others watched sadly as Zuko's eyes became misty, but before a tear could fall he shook himself out of his reverie.

"Watch," he said with a smirk as though the previous moment had never happened at all. Reaching behind the painting, he touched several spots the others couldn't see, and stepped aside as a large portion of the wall slid aside just like the other passageway downstairs, revealing a spiraling staircase leading downwards.

"Downstairs?" Toph wasted no time complaining once she realized what direction they were going, "you led us up all this way just to takes all back down again?"

"It's the only place I could thing to put it," Zuko whispered, "the hangar is on the other side of the foundation where the palace stands, and we don't have the time to tunnel through inconspicuously."

Sokka nodded fairly, "yeah, I get it. But maaaaybe it would be worth the effort to have those two places connect in the future, eh?"

Zuko grunted in response, and Sokka took that as meaning yes. The rest of the trip downward was met with silence, their thoughts wandering as they filtered down into a straight, narrow hallway with light at the end, and into a wide cove leading directly out into the sea. The hole must have been discreetly cut directly into the edge of the seaside cliffs far out of the city – who knows when it was first constructed and why – it looked very old.

"It's beautiful!" Katara gasped – and she was right, the view was nothing but phenomenal: the gap led out to the crisp midday ocean, which shimmered under the sun, sending light dashing in all directions, mingling with the white of the clouds and the greenish beige of the surrounding cliffside.

"Yeah, it's an amazing machine, isn't it?" Zuko said, to her confustion.

Katara turned around and nearly fell over, having apparently been the only one to look right past the airship sitting in the middle of the room. Sokka was already gushing over it, while Aang watched, amused. Even Toph, who could get a feel for it's qualities based on how it weighed into the ground, was sitting back looking impressed. "Um… yeah. That too."

"This is amazing!" Sokka said, running from one end of the ship to the other in seconds, trying to see if he could see it all at once, it didn't take long – the ship was very small, but general inspection revealed it had a powerful design more in line of vessels ten times it's size. And, to add good taste to the picture, it sported a striking black and red paint job, a light wood carriage with a head designed like a rearing dragon, and what looked like extendable wings that gave it an authority of it's own. "How did you get it to look so… sleek!"

Zuko chuckled. "Well, I had some help from a friend of yours."

"The Mechanist? No way!"

"Teo's dad?" Toph asked, "how'd you manage that?"

"Well, a little before I was crowned Fire Lord I went on a small trip making amends to those who had been unjustly imprisoned or persecuted by the Fire Nation. At one of the stops I ran into him. I remembered you said he invented the airship design-"

"Hey! He had help, you know!"

"Yes, we know Sokka. Anyway, we got to talking, and I asked if he would be for working for the Fire Nation again. He declined, but he did work with some of our engineers to make this personal gift: the Fire Lord's personal airship! It's fast, it's surprisingly sturdy, and it will get us where we need to go undetected."

"It's incredible is what it is!" Sokka raved, turning away from the ship for the first time and looking at Zuko like a kid anxious to open his Giving Day presents. "How soon can we use it?"

"Immediately, actually," Zuko said seriously, "if we leave now we should make it to where the hawk came from in less than half a day."

"Wait!" Katara cried, "shouldn't you wait a while before leaving? To go over your plan once you get there, or practice more with those new weapons you have Sokka using, or maybe reconsider…"

Zuko remained just as serious. "No, we should leave as soon as possible – we can work out those things during the journey. Time is of the essence, and there's definitely no time to reconsider. We have to go now."

"But…" Katara was looking down, nearly tearful with worried frustration.

Sokka walked over to his sister and gently took her hands in his. "Katara," he started softly. Katara looked up and anxiously met his eyes, "we'll be ok. No need to worry. I mean, he's the Fire Lord and I'm, well, me! How could we lose?"

Toph opened her mouth to say something, but was silenced by a slight Airbending nudge by Aang, which caused her to fall over, though nobody noticed. Katara looked a little less sad as she laughed slightly at Sokka's characteristic bravado.

Sokka smiled. "You're always trying to protect everyone, Katara – guess it runs in the family-" Katara smiled grimly, "but you don't always have to protect everyone, especially me. I'm your older brother, if anything I should have been protecting you better all this time. And now I am. I swear we'll come out of this fine."

Katara nodded and dove into chest with a huge embrace. "You had better," she said quietly, "if I have to heal you after this I swear I'll kill you."

"That sounds counter-productive," said Aang, chuckling even as he spat clumps of dirt out his mouth – outside of everyone's notice Toph had sent him a little payback for his "nudge." Covered and dust but sporting a supporting smile, he walked over to the siblings and took Katara from Sokka. She wrapped her arm around him and backed away from the airship, still looking anxious but at least understanding.

"Right…" Zuko said, glad the moment was over but not wanting to intrude himself, "it's time to get going. Sokka, suit up!" He gestured to a servant who was standing in the entrance tentatively carrying Sokka's stealth outfit. Everyone except Toph jumped, not realizing they had been followed. "I've already packed supplies, so we're waiting on you."

Sokka nodded and wasted no time changing into his suit – well, perhaps some time to find a private place to change, not as easy as it sounds when you're in an enormous gaping cove, but it was only after stalking off into the dark narrow hallway they had entered from for twenty minutes that he came back, strutting impressively and showing off his armor. After that, the rest of the departing process went smoothly – the basic supplies were, as Zuko said, already onboard, and it didn't take long for the two to go through a basic check of all the machinery. After ordering his workers to hide any leftover traces and doing a last-second check of the weather, they were already firing up the airship's flame in preparation for lift off.

"Remember," Sokka called down from the side of the ship, as it was beginning to rise, "don't worry about us!"

"Just be careful!" Katara called back with a warning look.

Zuko, though busy guiding the ship out the large but still confined cave, took a moment to comment, "We'll send you word if we need any help."

"You had better."

"Good luck!" Aang called out.

"Try not to mess up too bad!" Toph teased, earning her a steaming glare from Katara that she easily ignored.

The two warrior waved back as the airship drift through the cave mouth, out into the ocean and up into the sky. The gang watched their dot shrink farther and farther away, until one of the servants noted it would be best if they left. One by one, they all turned around and walked back through the hallway, Katara morosely bringing up the rear with her head down.

"Don't worry, Katara!" Toph said with her trademark levity, "they'll probably be sending us that hawk five minutes from now anyway."

Katara gave the smallest of chuckles in response, and a genuine smile.

* * *

><p>The journey through the sky from the Fire Nation was one of the smoothest rides Sokka had ever been on – Appa and Aang were undoubtedly experts in the air, but that didn't make riding on the back of a giant animal any less uncomfortable sometimes. The air was still and silent, with only the smallest wind that cooled them down just enough as they flew above the clouds – hidden as high as they could go so as to not be detected by anyone.<p>

Neither of them expressed too much worry about the inevitable battle they were practically waltzing right into alone. The plan had holes, for sure, and they were in for possibly more danger than they had ever been in before, but young as they were they were starting to get used to this sort of thing, so while their situation definitely made their nerves tense they knew there was no point in dreading it – they had to do it, it was the only way. So, instead of letting their fear get to them, they passed the time by chatting about random things.

After all, it never hurts the nerves to keep your mind off it.

"So how's it going with you and Mai," Sokka asked casually, leaning by the side of the deck.

"Heh. About the same," he replied, "she's determined not to let everything that happened change things – still as reserved and apathetic as ever." He smiled affectionately. "Sometimes it seems like the only thing she cares about in the whole city is me. I think if they keep trying to push her into the 'Fire Lady' role we'll all be in trouble."

They both laughed. "So you guys are set to be married and all, then?"

"We're engaged, yeah, it's the official Fire Nation practice after all, but neither of us care too much about it right now. It just is what it is – neither of us quite want to be forced into tradition just yet, so we're a kind of officially unofficial right now so we can enjoy as much of our youth as possible – given that so much of that has been stolen from us already. Drives the nobles crazy, not that we care. I know Mai doesn't mind spending the rest of her life with me, at least I hope she doesn't, but right now, now that the war is over, we want to spend our limited free time with each other and not worry about such things," Sokka sighed pointedly. Zuko frowned, "what's wrong with you?"

Sokka looked away into the horizon. "Nothing, it's just you're lucky you and Mai's fates are so closely knit. Suki and I are always busy with completely different things – I'm working my dad to represent the Southern Water tribe, and she's always off leading the Kyoshi warriors to training or travelling around aiding the Earth Kingdom. I kind of wish it was like before, where we were travelling together and could see each other all the time."

"A bit more than for comfort, I say," Zuko laughed, remembering the moment he had walked in on their private rendezvous, but he nonetheless understood his comrade's troubles, "Still, it is important to cherish the moment we have together, not wallow in the moments we don't," he said sagely.

Sokka smiled wryly, "you're getting better at that 'wisdom' thing."

"Yeah, my uncle's finally starting to rub off on me."

The two sat together chuckling for a while, until Sokka decided to change the subject.

"So… how goes the search for your mother?"

Zuko looked away, and Sokka gathered the worst from his silence and the stony mask his face had become. The topic of his mother was always a sore one for Zuko – the more he found clues the more the knowledge seemed to slip away: it seemed to Sokka that either his mother was very good at hiding or, worst case scenario, his father had done something to make sure she wouldn't trouble him further – he wouldn't put it past Ozai to do something like that, and he was sure Zuko had thought it once or twice. Ozai had refused to give a straight answer to Zuko's interrogations while in prison, with a smooth amusement he knew infuriated the young Fire Lord, and now that Ozai, Zuko's only link was gone…

The awkward quiet stretched out for a long vigil – the topic was dropped right away, but even when they tried to start new conversations Zuko remained moody, and his heart wasn't in anything. Eventually he stiffly rose to stoke the ship's fire in silence.

"We're doing fine, we should be there in less time than I thought," he said curtly as he turned away from the flames.

"Look man," Sokka started, "I'm sorry I brought up your mother. I wasn't thinking."

"No, that's not it," Zuko said distractedly, taking a few steps back to the middle of the ship and sitting down. "It's just… thinking about my mother got me thinking about my family. I really hoped this war against my own father and sister was over with. Especially Azula," he added as an afterthought.

"We already knew your father was an ambitious, manipulative monster," Sokka said darkly, "and Azula is as devious and crazy as they come. We should have been expecting this."

"That's not what I meant. It's just… I've always kind of envied you and Katara, you've always had a wonderful relationship with your sister, and your family – you could plainly see it in the cave, and that made me think. Me? I get a father who only cares about me as far as he can use me, and my sister would like nothing better than to kill me herself."

"At least you have your Uncle…"

"And that's it – other than that, I have no bonds whatsoever to my family. My father I was never able to have a true relationship with, but I nearly was able to connect with Azula, back when I was… well… you know…" Sokka nodded: Zuko usually tried not to mention the period of time after he helped take over Ba Sing Se – he was ashamed of it even more than his actions when he had first met the Avatar – and the rest of the gang respected the taboo around him. "… and almost having any kind of bond felt like, I don't know, like we were actually some kind of twisted family. Azula's evil but, I… I kind of wish I didn't have to keep fighting her."

"Are you kidding? She's nuts."

"Yes, she is. And she's cruel, and manipulative, destructive, and a menace to anyone and everyone her, and she was all those things long before she lost her mind. She spent a large portion of our lives twisting people's lives and making them suffer, especially me… but she's still my younger sister."

Sokka remained silent, but Zuko pressed on. "You of all people should understand – you were talking about how much you wanted to protect Katara, remember? How would you feel if Katara was all the things Azula is, and you had to take her down like I do? I will always be there to take Azula down, and my father for that matter, but my heart remains heavy, if only because I wish I didn't have to have that kind of responsibility in the first place."

Sokka grimaced – he could never imagine having to deal with his sister in that way Zuko constantly had to deal with his – fighting to the death, throwing her in an insane asylum, the very thoughts were horrible. "That's rough, buddy," he said sincerely.

"It's nothing…" Zuko grunted, though his voice was a lot sharper and calmer than it had been previously. "I've come to terms with it long ago. It's just, sometimes I do still think about it."

"Well," Sokka said with sudden chipper enthusiasm, "it sounds like you need something to take your mind off it! What have we got?"

"Pai Sho?" Zuko offered, pulling a board out of a hatch in the floor.

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "You brought a Pai Sho set with you?"

"Another thing I learned from my Uncle – always take your Pai Sho with you. Want to play?"

Sokka grinned.

* * *

><p>"Aaaagh! This is so boring!" Toph cried, lounging restlessly on an easy chair in one for Fire Palace's many dens (for visiting nobles and the like). They were making themselves obviously present in the castle so people wouldn't ask questions, but that involved either a lot of mingling or just hanging around on their own but not actually going anywhere. Either way, it wasn't exactly interesting.<p>

"Find something to do, then!" Katara snapped. She was still not quite able to suppress her anxiety over Sokka's mission, and Toph's griping wasn't helping any.

"There's nothing to do in this place!" Toph argued, "except talk to those stuck up nobles, and who wants to do that?"

Aang chuckled. "Oh, come on, Toph. Out of all of us you're probably the only one who knows how to act around them," he joked. Toph crossed her arms with an annoyed grunt.

"Doesn't mean I want to do it. These political types are all the same way, deceptive and self serving. All they care about is helping themselves and getting one over someone else."

"Oh, surely not all of us are that bad?"

Katara had opened her mouth to snap at Toph again, but she and the rest of them twisted around at the sound of this new voice. Toph mentally cursed the thin stone floor of the room they were in – it was far too thin for her to effectively "see" through.

It was the overweight noble with gray hair that they had had the misfortune of meeting earlier. The emotionless smile was still plastered to his face, and he walked towards them with a posture positively exuding false grace.

"I beg your pardon, Avatar and… friends…" he glanced at Katara, who was visibly restraining herself from saying something bitter, and at Toph, who now had her bare feet leaning off the side of her chair looking disinterested, "I had thought this room was empty, and I didn't want to intrude on another's conversation," he strode over to them, looking as though he didn't care whether they knew he was lying or not, "but I thought I would take the opportunity to- wait, aren't there usually four of you?"

Aang thought given the not exactly receptive moods of his friends he should be the one to speak. "Hi. Sorry if we offended you, but it's been a long day. We did a lot of touring around the capital." He hoped the man wouldn't notice that he hadn't exactly answered the question: he was still trying to think of an alibi.

No such luck: the man's eyes became even colder, if at all possible. "And your friend?"

"He's… er…" Aang started.

"Zuko's preparing him for some future political events," Toph said suddenly but with convincing casualness, "he feels direct interaction of other nations in your councils would help the world situation. And I don't know if you've noticed, the political climate here isn't exactly… straightforward."

Aang and Katara marveled at Toph's ability to think on her feet and talk political action at the same time – that was a very sound alibi, that the man was bound to believe.

And so he did. The man's lips thinned – obviously something about an answer like that, plus being talked to in such a way by a child, was not something he agreed with, but he continued his false grin, which looked downright ugly now. "I see," he said with fake cheeriness, "I suppose that answers my other question as well: I wanted to know where the Fire Lord was. Perhaps later." He looked off into a wall as if it would bring the Fire Lord to him, and then turned back to the kids. "But I hope you know that that this venture, with such interaction, will likely not be well received."

"I don't know," Toph said flippantly, "it seems like the sort of thing someone should do when they have to make up for one hundred years of-"

He scoffed and cut her off. "Yes, well, I don't believe that the meddling of such a backwater tribe, with nothing of value to offer us – no offense – and from a mere child no less. It is shameful if anything, and to be honest your people have interfered quite enough in our country."

"And we'll keep interfering," Katara hissed, glaring furiously, "until things are done right."

"Keep talking treasonous talk like that," the man growled, his voice dangerously low, "and you may find you, your merry band, and any your so-called nation ejected any negotiations with the glorious Fire Nation and it's welfare."

"Zuko would never let you do that," Aang protested. He was starting to get very close to angry very fast.

"You'll find that sometimes it doesn't matter what the Fire Lord wants," he said enigmatically, his smile returning more bitter than false, "the council is very influential, and if we decide your little tribe doesn't deserve the benefit of our… interaction… then you will not, help of the Avatar or not. That's the way it works, _children._"

"And _you'll_ find that this time, what the Fire Lord wants will be done if the council wants their influence to actually mean anything," Now it was the man's turn to gasp and turn around; his smile fell at the sound of the gravelly voice behind him, "and that's the way it works, General Ibara."

"Ah! Fire Lady Mai! Or should that be not-quite-Fire Lady Mai," he sneered, but kept a outwardly polite tone, "I was just explaining our policy to the Avatar and his-"

"That's quite enough, General. I don't think the Avatar is up to continuing this conversation," she glanced at Aang who had, a minute ago, looked about ready to punch something, not an easy feat, "so if you will excuse us, I have my own business to discuss."

"Yes, of course, but should you see your fiancée…"

"When I next see him and if I feel like it, then I may inform him that you are still looking for him, General," she finished coldly, gesturing to the door. "Now goodbye."

Laughing bitterly, the man they now knew to be called Ibara walked briskly through the den door and out of sight. Mai turned to a handmaiden who had followed her in and nodded at her to make sure Ibara had actually gone, then turned to the gang.

"Thanks Mai," Katara said in relief, "I don't think we could've standed another second of that."

Mai looked at them distractedly, possibly still wondering whether Ibara had really gone. "Whatever," she rolled her eyes, and noticed her handmaiden giving her an encouraging wave. Safe in the knowledge that she had nothing to worry about, she went straight to business, "now where's Zuko?"

The three of them were stunned, they hadn't expected such a question so bluntly. "Er… what do you mean?" Aang said slowly.

She gave him a very flat look. "Zuko isn't here." It wasn't a question.

"Well, he's… er… helping Sokka with political stuff," Aang repeated nervously, remembering what Toph had said, "right?"

"That's right, he is," Katara backed him up with a lot more solidity than he had. "Have you checked a library or a war room or something. You guys probably have a lot of those."

"Yeah, I heard all about it from the doorway," Mai said dryly, "but something tells me looking for them would be a waste of time. Maybe it's how shaky you just were. You don't work with Azula," Mai spat out the name with complete venom, "for years without picking up a few things about observation."

Aang's eyes widened, and he turned to Katara and Toph, both of whom looked floored. "Well, I-" he started, rubbing the back of his neck. He didn't get far.

"- or maybe," Mai continued, "it's because I know he's been planning something for the past few months, even if I don't know what it is, and it makes me wonder. Or maybe it's because his maniac father and his monster of a sister broke out of jail yesterday and he's bound to feel personally responsible. Or maybe it's because I checked that secret passage in ou- his bedroom he thinks I don't know about and that personal airship he also thinks I don't know about is missing."

She advanced on her three stupefied looking targets looking extremely intimidating despite being the only non-bender in the room. They all flinched as they looked nervously at each other as she shortened the distance between them menacingly. Aang tried not to gulp too loudly.

"Now, I'll ask you again. Where's Zuko?"

* * *

><p>After five or six more hours of lengthy skyfaring, the deadlock that was Zuko and Sokka's first Pai Sho game was finally interrupted by the squawk of the messenger hawk they had been following, who had flown up from in front to meet them.<p>

"We've reached our destination," Zuko said shortly, getting up immediately and tossing the Pai Sho kit under the hatch in the deck.

"And I was about to win too," Sokka whined, but he also made his own preparations to land, making sure every part of his suit was on correctly and he could reach his weapons effectively.

Zuko lowered the flame gradually in order to make a deliberate, hopefully undetected descent. Slowly but surely the airship dipped underneath the clouds, into the now evening sky, bringing their enigmatic target into full view.

The report had not lied – the island was small but very distinctive. It was composed of one enormous, twisted mountain, that was bent and crooked at many points, with several peaks and almost no place that was flat or unmarred by perilous rocks. Jutting into the purplish red colors of post-sunset it looked like a jagged dagger sticking into a bleeding wound, an ominous omen if either of them had ever seen one.

Sokka was taken aback by the sight, but he looked around this intimidating visage with a spyglass he found in his pack. "There's entrances into the mountain everywhere! There's got to be a whole complex in there! And I… oh- Zuko look," he scowled and gave Zuko the scope, pointing to a place on the shore where a Fire Nation vessel had been demolished and left scuttled upon the rocks. "Your men must have been captured…"

"I think I can see someplace to land!" Zuko said grimly though the glass, not allowing himself to be fazed by anything until they were safely landed. He pointed to an alcove in the mountain hidden by a couple of peaks and a twisted rock formation – the airship was small enough to dip into it, and then they could walk and/or climb to one of the many entrances around them.

Sokka nodded his agreement, but as they descended a thought came to him, "hey Zuko, I just thought of something."

"Yeah?" Zuko said, focusing on steering the ship.

"I ought to have a codename, shouldn't I? You obviously can't go around calling me Sokka."

There was a brief silence.

"Darn! How could we have forgotten that!"

"Doesn't matter," Sokka said quickly, as they neared the leering mountain, "let's just think of one now!"

"Hmm," Zuko said, still not tearing his eyes from what he was doing. "It ought to be something simple… like Gray. Or maybe Ghost."

"Nah, that makes me sound like an old man," Sokka said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Who care what it makes you sound like?"

"I do, obviously."

"Fine, how about something a little less simple. How about Nightwing or something?"

"A little on the theatrical side, don't you think?"

"Like you've ever let that stop you. Darkwing?"

"Let's get serious!"

"Well, I don't know," Zuko snapped as the balloon gave an unsettling lurch, "I didn't have time to think of one!"

"Fine, I'll think of something, let's just land this thing safely."

With the exception of the anger fueled jolt, the rest of the landing went relatively well – the airship was safely parked in a looming ravine that they were confident no one would think to look in. Quietly making their way over the rocks, they moved as fast as they could to the nearest pathway carved into the stone.

"That's odd, there's no one here," Sokka pointed out.

"They must all be inside," neither Zuko nor Sokka could tell if that was bad just yet.

Dropping onto a path shortly below them, the two sneaked down into an entrance halfway up the mountain, into a set of descending stairs that led to a marvelously carved hall – it wasn't merely a tunnel like the hidden catacombs under the palace, this was a well designed pathway, adorned with symbols on the walls and the floor, leading to a much larger pathway down below. To their great relief, unlike the maze of the catacombs, nearly all the paths all seemed to lead down to this main area, which made searching a bit easier.

"Looks like we need to go down," Sokka said quietly, moving to follow the hallway.

"Yes but… get down!" he dove at Sokka and pulled him fiercely back into the shadowy hallway they had just come from, just in the nick of time: a moment later a procession passed by them from another hall, making their way down towards the hub chamber. None of the people in the crowd were recognizable, except two – in the center there was a tall man with a distinctive beard and impressive robes, walking with a regal gravity, and a young woman following stiltedly with scraggly hair and an intense look in her eye.

"_That's my father and Azu-" _

"_I know! Sssshh!"_

It took them a moment to realize that the crowd of people were talking about themselves, and they had to strain to hear the words.

"…have waited long enough," Ozai was saying, "after what the Avatar did to me I have had to endure the worst indignity a man such as me can possibly experience."

"Do not worry, my liege," said a bowing man in robes near the front of the procession, "the sacred waters have been prepared. Soon you shall be returned to your full glory."

"And then we shall make them pay for what they did to you, father!" Azula added, a manic quality to her voice.

Ozai looked impassively at his daughter, and then smiled darkly. "Yes. We shall, Azula."

The last thing they saw as the procession passed was an excited grin pass over Azula's face - an unpleasant sight to be sure. As soon as they started to enter the stairs leading down, Sokka flew into a curious flurry, not checking to see if all of the number were out of earshot yet.

"_What did your dad mean-"_

"_Ssssh! Wait!"_

But it was too late. The group hadn't fully passed yet, and one man stopped at a sudden sound. He turned towards their hallway, and they had to stop themselves from gasping – the man's eyes were completely missing: no sockets, no holes, no anything. We was not wearing the same full body robes as the rest of his group, instead wearing limited armor around his torso and waist. All around his body there were tattoo's, with prominent eyes vaguely similar to the kind Sokka remembered seeing on Combustion Man, but not of the same type. There were ten of them altogether all around his body, and they all made him nervous, particularly the way he was stretching out and waving the parts with the eyes around the room.

He and Zuko slowly slipped back up the stair they had come down and tried not to move. After a few seconds, the ten-eye tattooed man turned and walked away, perhaps believing it was a bird or the wind that he heard.

Sokka and Zuko let out a huge breath in relief. "That was close," Zuko said, clutching his chest.

"You've got that right. Who were those guys?"

"I don't know, but this is definitely suspicious," Zuko said ominously, "that guy with the eyes wasn't the only one with tattoos, I saw a few with painted faces and odd designs – nothing like I've ever seen, not even on an Airbender or the Sun worshippers."

"Something tells me we shouldn't pick a fight just yet," Sokka nodded to his companion. _Good thing Toph isn't here_, he thought.

"I agree," Zuko said, gesturing for him to follow down the stair again, "but let's see if we can get closer."

The main area of the complex was a sight to behold – on the bottom there was an enormous lake of some kind of pulsating green liquid surrounded by a circular shore, where a congregation of a couple dozen people were waiting – at the farthest end of the lake there was a platform, where Ozai, Azula, and the robed man from before were waiting. Luckily, this platform, huge as it was, was not as intricately constructed as the smaller hallways, the walls were cut wide but there were many rocky outcroppings towards the top that they could use as vantage points – picking one close to the entrance they came in (there were two major entrances into the chamber, one on their side and one on the other, both splitting into many passages themselves), they stood as stilly and out of sight as they could and watched the proceedings.

Ozai stood at the end of the platform, looking as though he were steeling himself for something. Two of the closest robes men were holding his ceremonial robes as he stood before the mass in light clothing, smirking all the same.

"Today is the day, my acolytes," he shouted, a prideful glint in his eyes, "the day the _true_ Phoenix rises to take the kingdom that is his right!"

"_**Ra's Al Simurgh!"**_the crowd chanted repeatedly. _**"Ra's Al Simurgh! Ra's Al Simurgh!"**_

Ozai raised a hand and the cheering mass fell silent. "These waters, these magnificent rejuvenating waters, that have existed from the power of the everlasting spirit world, will return my previous abilities and then some! I will truly become the most powerful being in the world!"

Sokka felt Zuko tense up behind him. He knew what he was feeling: this definitely wasn't the best of developments.

"To be true, I must thank the Avatar for what he has done to me, for without it I could not have realized my true destiny, and truly become the Phoenix!"

"_**Ra's Al Simurgh! Ra's Al Simurgh! Ra's Al Simurgh!"**_

"But he had no idea, no way of knowing – he only touched the surface of the art. I, on the other hand, had long since found the masters of the spirit, this League Of Shadows, and truly seen the light! And now we shall take our rightful place as masters of the world!"

"_How long could he have been planning this?"_ Sokka whispered, thinking out loud. To think that Ozai had had this entire cult secretly following him all along, ready to use as his own private cabal, was very distressing

"Father," Azula said stepping up to his side. Zuko and Sokka gave a start: they hadn't noticed her. For the ceremony she had donned a distinctlt dark crimson robe, but until she had spoken a moment ago she had been wearing a low hood that covered her features – though there was no mistaking her voice. "Father, I beg you again, let me join you! We could be all powerful together, please I-"

Zuko snarled behind Sokka, Ozai becoming more powerful than ever was one thing, but Azula doing so at the same time was unthinkably bad.

"_No, Azula!" _Ozai shouted furiously, causing her to jump and her hood to fall behind her head, "As I have told you again and again, the process is unstable for those who have not already… lost… their abilities." The venomous way he spoke those last two words scared even her, and she darted back and put her head down. "You will stay as you are!" he finished. Azula visibly flinched at these words, but did not say anything else.

"Y-your majesty," the head robed man approached Ozai again, "We will now prepare the mechanism that will dip you into the sacred water. We will endeavor to make the whole process will be as swift as possible but it is necessary for it to take some time."

"So be it. It is time."

"Also, I must warn you again-"

"I assure you, Ubu, that I will remain as in control of myself as I possibly can, which given my reserve is quite a lot. The water may cause insanity in some, but I am not some. I am the true master of this wretched world."

"Yes, your grace."

Zuko's mind was reeling. This was worse than he could have ever imagined – his father with greater strength than ever with a small army of cultists of unknown power at his command, bad enough, but should they fail then no one would ever know the threat was coming until it was too late. He could not let that happen. _"We have to stop this!"_ he whispered, furiously repositioning himself to spring down off of the rocks and into the mass of cultists.

"_Obviously,"_ Sokka replied, trying to stop him from doing something rash, _"but we have to think this through! We need a plan, not even we could take on all those guys, we don't even know what they can do. Darn, I wish we had brought backup."_

"_It's too late to think about backup, we need to-"_

Unbeknownst to either of them, when Zuko moved around the rock, he had knocked a small stone free from the wall. It was just a tiny thing, so the clatter it made remained unheard as they debated the situation. But as tiny as it was, it was headed down towards trouble, and not detecting it at all was the worst they could do as it fell directly into the mass of acolytes.

"My liege," someone said, with a surprisingly clear and crisp voice. As the entire delegation turned, Sokka and Zuko hopped to attention and looked down to search for whoever it was that was talking. After a moment, they realized the voice was coming from the man with the ten eye tattoos who had almost caught them earlier. To their horror, one of his shoulders was twisted so that the eye etched on it was pointing up.

Directly at them.

"It appears we have some uninvited interlopers," the Ten-Eyed Man said, pointing up to their position. Ozai turned to look where he was pointing, and the whole world froze.

The entire League Of Shadows was now looking directly at them, and many of them were already moving to intercept. Ozai looked directly into his son's face, with a coldly furious glare blazing between them. Azula, on the other hand, was clearly sporting a very demonic grin.

"Run!" Sokka yelled, pulling Zuko from his staredown with his father and towards the exit. They made it to the threshold in only a couple long bounds and hit the ground running, leaving the chamberful of mobilizing cultists behind them. Though they could hear them beginning to give chase they did not stop to turn and look; luckily the sounds of the raging mob were getting fainter and fainter as they ran. Soon, they made it to the fork in the road that branched off from the main passageway, with the League Of Shadows far behind, for the moment. Unfortunately, in their alarm they couldn't tell one path from the other.

"Which way did we come from?" Sokka yelled, getting steadily more agitated - as he stopped he could hear the group of cultists draw closer, and it was making him very nervous.

"Who cares! Pick one!" Zuko replied, running ahead down the left path. Sokka nodded and followed behind, once again starting to make headway against the group of warriors trailing behind them - though that didn't matter much if they couldn't find their way to someplace safe. Running into the wrong place would only make it easy for their enemies to catch up tot hem.

Luckily, the passageways were not very long – the one they chose led directly to an exit without any twists or turns. Sighing with relief, the two hurtled towards the open air at the end of the tunnel with the cultists thankfully far behind them… only to find that they had picked the wrong path after all – they had somehow ended up on the shore, the very bottom of the island and far away from their airship, the messenger hawk they had intended to use to get help, or any kind of real cover.

Again wishing that they had brought backup, Sokka turned to Zuko, the sound of raging acolytes drawing closer from the inside of the tunnels, faint for now, a good sign, but they were starting to get louder and louder every second. "What do we do now?"

"Fight, I suppose."

"Then it's been an honor, I guess." This was far less dramatic than Sokka expected his last conversation before rushing into a losing battle to be.

"Same here. Just so you know, I'm sorry for everything I-"

Sokka laughed. "Come on, man. We're going to be slaughtered, don't make it worse by apologizing for… what…" He trailed off as he saw something in the corner of his eye.

Zuko didn't notice, however. "Well, I can't help it if I'm guilty of-"

"Wait!" Sokka said, cutting him off, "Look!"

The pointed to the sky, where a small but quickly growing shape was deliberately heading right for them."

Zuko groaned, "are they attacking us from the air too?"

"No!" Sokka replied excitedly, "look closer!" Zuko squinted, and as the shape came nearer he could clearly see what had made Sokka so happy. That shape wasn't an enemy ship, or a bird, or anything like that – as it became easier to see it was clear that it was a Sky Bison, with a very familiar tattooed airbender at the helm.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Oh, man, I don't know how this ended up taking so long. At first it was because I wanted toget the order of the series in order (this thing is going to be loooong...), and then just laziness. Sorry for the long wait, you few who were actualy waiting.

Anyways, in order to just get this done already I forced myself to write basically all of it in one sitting, so if the last part feels off as tiredness set in, that's why. Also, this whole story in general turned about a bit more complexly written than I expect the rest of the series to be. This whole thing feels more knotty to in part because it's introducing how I work with the characters and the universe as a whole, in part because I'm getting used to writing basic events, and also in part because I created a slightly different tone than I expected in the middle of writing this. Once this big intro is done, most of the stories will be straightforward adventures, and hopefully more fun to write.

Hope you enjoy it! I'll try not to be so late in the future.

Introducing the Wolfbatman version of the Ten-Eyed Man (not based off of any Avatar character), Ozai as Ra's Al Ghul (Simurgh, the closest think I could find to a simple Arabic word for Phoenix, a la "The Phoenix's Head" for "The Demon's Head. It's not perfect, but it'll do) and General Ibara (who is only semi-made up by me, if you can guess what character he is a reference to I'll be most impressed).

_Edit:_ Redid the entire last bit, as parts of it just didn't make sense for what I wanted to do.


	5. The Phoenix Reborn: Part 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing about Avatar The Last Airbender. Just in case you didn't know.**

**Sorry about the longish wait folks, real life entered the equation and I couldn't get into the writing mood. That and I had a lot of writers block in general with this one.**

**But enjoy this one, a lot of importance occurs in this installment, for better or for worse...**

* * *

><p><strong>The Phoenix Reborn: Part 3<strong>

Sokka could have kissed all of them, though given the situation he felt it wiser not to. Still, it was with great excitement that he waved down the rest of his friends and directed them to his and Zuko's position. With a rush and a swoop Aang landed Appa on the shore before them, and he, Katara and Toph quickly jumped off the Sky Bison ready for action.

"Boy, am I glad to see you guys!" Sokka cheered as they walked up.

"Tsk tsk. See? I told you they'd wouldn't be able to handle themselves without us," Toph quipped with a cheeky grin. Rather than be angered by her teasing, Sokka just smiled and shrugged, he was more than happy to hear Toph's snarky wit right now, especially since it came in a set with her phenomenal Earthbending skill.

Zuko, however, was not so quick to raise his spirits. "Not that I'm not grateful or anything, but how did you guys know we were in trouble?" he asked suspiciously, "we weren't able to reach our messenger hawk, and even if we were you wouldn't have been able to reach us for a quite some time."

"Er… well… we were probably going to set off on our own eventually anyway," Katara started, suddenly looking distinctly uncomfortable, "but…you're not going to like this."

Zuko tried not to look anxious. "Best to tell me the bad news now…"

"Well," Katara continued, "Mai kind of figured out something was wrong and got us to tell her where you were. She… er… convinced us to come help you right away."

"You know, she can be pretty frightening when she wants to be!" Aang piped in with a slight smirk.

"Hate to admit it but twinkletoes has a point," Toph said with a much wider smirk, "I'd hate to be you right now: she chewed us out and we weren't even the ones really behind this whole disaster."

Zuko nodded and didn't press the issue, but he suddenly looked a lot paler than usual. Taking a moment to process this particularly unsettling news, he continued, "erm… well anyways, I won't look a gift ostrich-horse in the mouth. There's no denying we need the aid. Things are much more complicated than expected: My father has a cabal of mystics following him – they seem to be part of some kind of strange order. There aren't too many of them, but there may have been more than just the two of us could handle."

"Hey!"

Zuko smirked. "Well, maybe we could have taken them, but we appreciate the help."

"No, that's not what I was talking about ," Sokka said curtly: he seemed to be trying to listen for something. "But still a good point though. Hmm…"

"What is it?"

"The League Of Shadows was following us, remember? They weren't too close, yet but you could still hear them coming. Now listen!"

Zuko listened in to the sounds around him – the wave of the ocean, the clatter of small stones rolling down the mountain, shifting of the sands beneath the gang's feet, but… "no noise coming in from the inside. They've stopped coming."

"Maybe they gave up." Aang offered.

"Or maybe they saw you all coming, and decided to plan accordingly," Zuko said ominously.

All of their faces quickly became that much more lined and serious. "A trap."

"Definitely," Zuko grunted, "but we need to be in there to stop my father, so we have no choice but to spring the trap."

"One trap against the five of us?" Toph said confidently, "I think their plans are in for a serious snag. We took down some of Ozai's best flunkies before, we can take on whatever they dish our way now!"

"Don't underestimate them, Toph. We don't know what kind of abilities these mystics have – one of them we ran into could see anywhere from eyes all over his body, and we have no idea what the others can do: plus, there's my father and my sister to deal with"

"Your father's been stripped of his bending, though," Aang noted, "I took care of that, remember? He shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"No… that's the worst of it. They seem to be going through a ceremony to return his power to him somehow. It should be going on as we speak."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's stop them," Toph said with a serious nod, "the last thing the world needs is that maniac back at full strength."

"Not just full strength," Sokka murmered, "even stronger, they were saying."

Katara, who had remained quiet for a while, looked up resolutely and smacked her fist into her palm. "Then it looks like we'll have to spring the trap. There's no other option."

"Agreed." Zuko nodded at Sokka, and the two of them turned to lead Team Avatar back into the catacombs, and into certain danger.

The narrow tunnels leading to the main hall were quiet and empty – suspicious enough by itself, but the larger chambers directly after them were clear as well. The fact that they were obviously being allowed in did not escape them. They stayed on guard, keeping a sharp eye out (or in Toph's case, an alert foot) for any danger as the made their way through the segmented passageways.

When they made it to the main chamber just before the underground lake without a trace of anyone or any kind of obstacle, they started to get suspicious.

"Are you sure this is the right way?"

"Yes, Katara, we definitely went this way. I can't understand it, where could they have gone?"

"Could they have evacuated?"

"This fast? No, it can't be. And my father needed that pool for whatever he was planning down here, he wouldn't have left it behind without a fight."

"Well, they're not here. I can sense the Earth all around us and there no one. They can't have gotten around that."

Suddenly a lower, more gravelly voice joined the coversation. "Want to bet?" Five heads snapped upwards to find four warriors in mid fall, dropping from their perches on ceiling.

Zuko was already drawing his swords. "It's a trap!"

"No, really?" Toph grunted as she covered the group with a shield of earth to prevent their attackers from falling on top of them.

"Block their passage to the ceremony!" They heard the same voice who alerted them call, "Make sure they don't get through!"

"I don't think so." Without hesitation, Zuko began sprinting towards the main exit to the underground lake.

"Zuko, wait!" Katara shouted, but it was too late, Zuko had dashed past the guards' reach and taken off for the main chamber, leaving all of them behind.

Having lost one of their targets, the three other guards silently turned to their leader for instruction. "Forget him! He will be taken care of!" he said, "just make sure that the others do not join him!"

Sokka hmphed, drawing the guards' attention back to their foes. "Only four of you, eh? What happened, did the rest of you run scared?"

"Not all of us are skilled in combat," the leader said with a low, sneering leer, "but four of us are enough to deal with you all, I assure you."

"Like my friend just said: I don't think so!" Sokka threw himself forward with a flying kick aimed straight at the leader, who sneered and dodged to the side as Sokka flew past him, barreling into one of his comrades who was to surprised to do the same.

The other two warriors moved to block the entrance to the main chamber, while Katara and Aang rushed to engage them. The leader, meanwhile, made straight for Sokka so as to double team and finish him quickly, only to be thrown aside by Toph's earthbending. He flew into a side wall and slid to the ground, but only seemed to have gotten the wind knocked out of him. Toph pressed the attack, sending shackles of rock at him in an attempt to cuff him to the wall, but he managed to leap out of the way – though to Toph it barely mattered.

"You really should've known better than to challenge us in a place like this," Toph smirked, casually walking toward him, "Attacking me, who can see through the ground and control it to boot? Not smart." Her smirked widened, and she made a rush of rock from the ground, walls and ceiling condense on him for emphasis, though she could "see" him roll to the side just before she could ensnare him.

"Is that so?" he chuckled cruelly – actually chuckled! (_he must not know who he's dealing with,_ she thought), "We shall see…" he added ominously as he took to running around her.

_Please, he thinks he can get behind me? I can see everything, moron!_ Toph shook her head disappointedly – she could already tell what he was about to do and already knew where he was, but if he wanted to learn the hard way... She waited as she "saw" him do several jumps and flips, possibly to throw her off, and waited until he turned around and made himself open – a good distance away from her, but close enough that he might have thought he had a chance to strike – and without even turning herself she sent a mighty shockwave straight to where she saw he was, knowing this time he wouldn't be able to dodge…

"Hey! What… Toph! What're you doing?" Came Sokka's voice from across the hall – a little winded as he had only just barely avoided being smashed by a wave of rock. "Fight the bad guys, not me!"

_What? But… I didn't see Sokka there! I could've sworn that creep was… how could I have made messed up like that!_ She shouted a quick apology not even bothering to lace it with some kind of teasing joke, she had more important things to worry about. _But… if that's Sokka, where did he go? Why can't I see him?_ She turned around wildly back and forth, searching as vividly as she could for any sense of her opponent, until-

"Boo."

"Gyah!" Toph gave a start at the deadpan voice that somehow came from directly beside her. But she didn't stumble or shudder at the surprise – without missing a beat she quickly retaliated with a large wave of rock that the warrior could not dodge in time – it picked him up and carried him slamming into the side of the passageway, completely demolishing the wall and sending him into a side room.

Toph's mind was racing. _How did he get so close to me without me noticing? Was he right there the whole time? It couldn't be! How didn't I see him?_ She gritted her teeth – she had no idea what was going on, and that scared her just a little bit, which made her furious. She had to take down this guy before he did something else. She ran forward following her "sight" and the sound of crumbling rubble, and confronted him just as he was rising to his feet with a powerful strike that sent him reeling again.

But to her surprise, he didn't groan or double over. Instead he laughed again. And this time, even more coldly than before, and it was starting to creep her out. He rose to his feet with complete confidence… and that was the last thing Toph saw.

She gasped in shock at the realization that she couldn't see anything. At all. For the first time in a long time, there was but empty darkness all around her, even though she was safe on the ground.

She froze in fear of tripping over something she couldn't see, but otherwise tried not to give her opponent any sign that she was suddenly truly blind, even though she was near panicking on the inside. And to make things worse, he began to speak.

"I must admit," came his voice, low and cruel, from a short distance across the room, "I did not expect to encounter such skilled bending from a child, especially not one as… 'handicapped...' as yourself. And that ability of yours, to 'see' through the earth – pure genius, I am not afraid to say. But that is all over now. You cannot sense me at all now, can you?"

Toph growled to cover her surprise, "I can still hear you!" For a moment she forgot she had couldn't see where she was going or fully sense her opponent's presence: being called handicapped in such away, by her enemy no less, made her furious. With a shout she lifted a wall of stone from the ground and hurtled it at where she heard his voice was coming from.

She barely had enough time to realize that she couldn't even sense the earth she was bending before she was bowled over by something.

"Hmph. You would do well to give up, girl," his voice was getting closer. In a panic Toph stumbled back while still on the ground, pushing herself away from the voice the voice as frantically as she could. "You see, Avatar Aang, powerful as he is, is not the only person in the past centuries to discover the art of manipulating spirit. Granted, we are nowhere near as powerful as he – our art is all about subtlety in contrast to his awesome power - but we can still-"

He fell momentarily silent: in a last bid of desperation Toph wildly sent a pair of tremors vaguely in the direction she heard him from and created a shield of earth around her… only for the shield to disintegrate as quickly as she made it and to be sent rolling immediately after by what felt like her own attack. _No! But… how can he be doing this?_

"Don't you get it yet, you young fool? I can bend your bending," he chuckled again as Toph's blood went cold, "I can influence every thing you bend – and thanks to your little Earth sensing trick you have to be bending all the time – it was easy to make everything you relied on disappear."

Toph scooted back as far as she could go, shuddered as she hit a wall, and stumbled to her feet only to trip and fall back to the ground, completely helpless - unable to fight or even see.

The spiritbender laughed a cruel laugh. "Poor little blind girl… weak and vulnerable, fighting a braggart's battle with powers you only now realize are fleeting. Don't worry, fool child, I'll make this fast." Toph flinched as she heard the hissing clank of sharp metal dragging abruptly across the ground...

"No you don't!" Toph rose to her feet, beaming at the sound of her friend's voice as Sokka dove into the spiritbender with, though she couldn't see it, another flying kick – this time making it's mark. The cultist tripped backward: he managed to keep his balance, but the damage was done. With his concentration broken Toph's senses quickly returned to her, and with them her Earthbending – she swiftly knocked him into the wall with another wave of stone, and he slid to the ground out cold.

Furious, she prepared to do a lot worse, but Sokka sensed what she was feeling and gripped her shoulder, "he's done, there's no use in bothering with him now." Toph glared at the warrior's unconscious form, took a deep breath and turned around with a small smile.

"Thanks Sokka," she said, giving him a quick hug. "that was actually pretty…" She trailed off with an unreadable expression, "well, you get the idea."

"Better than you think," Sokka said absently, not entirely paying attention. His focus was on the main passageway now that Toph was safe, "the others are doing almost as bad as you were," Toph scowled and crossed her arms at his choice in words, but Sokka didn't hear her humph, "for once, I'm glad I'm the only one who can't bend. The only one doing even remotely well is Aang, and that's because he figured out what they were doing and was trying to counter it. But he's not even sure how they're doing it, so he and Katara are only just matching those two goons they're facing off against. I knew you'd be in trouble so I left them behind for a second, so who knows how they're doing now…"

Toph grimly absorbed this information and nodded, "well let's go then!" The two of them ran to the demolished wall of the side room, ready to defend their friends. "And… thanks again." Toph repeated, a slight blush on her cheeks.

Sokka didn't look back, but answered still with his trademark confidence. "Anytime. Got your back, Toph." The tore out of the side room into the fray, which as Sokka said was not looking good. The only one not fighting for their life was the one guard Sokka had been fighting at the start of the battle, who was laying on the side unconscious. Katara and Aang, however, were fighting tooth and nail – the spiritbenders were not effecting them as badly as they were Toph, as they luckily did not need to be bending to see, but Aang's flying was looking a lot less stable than usual – though he was still keeping control - and every other attack Katara made from her canteen either spiraled out of control or did things she obviously didn't intend. It seemed like the only hits they could make were done when they weren't paying attention, but since there were two of them this was rare.

Sokka, however, saw their opening. "Let's finish this now – quick Toph, while they're distracted." Toph didn't need to be told twice: with a powerful gesture she created a two walls of rock and squished the unsuspecting cultists between them. Katara and Aang backed up, surprised but clearly pleased. Toph laughed and removed the vice as quick as she made it, and the two mighty warriors stumbled around drunkenly for a moment before falling over on their faces.

"That… was not good," Katara said after they were sure all the cultists were down for the count.

"You said it," Aang said shakily, "it was like they were spiritbending, like I did to Ozai, but different. Like they could disrupt everything I tried to create and twist." Toph shuddered as Aang continued. "I was afraid to even use Earth or Firebending, just in case they messed with my focus and I ended up hurting any of you." He started straight at Katara as he said that, and she smiled reassuringly at him briefly despite the seriousness of the situation.

"Maybe the technique wasn't as lost as people thought," Sokka noted.

"I suppose not. At least they couldn't remove our bending completely or anything like that – I suppose the kind of spiritbending they can do is more about influence than removal."

"Still not a good thing," Katara looked down at the defeated spiritbenders with a dark expression.

"And if we had such a hard time," Toph said seriously, "who knows how badly it's going for Zuko – he's got to be surrounded!" That caught everyone's attention: they immediately snapped into action.

"Let's go!" Katara said as they rushed into what was sure to be even bigger battle than the one they had just gone through.

* * *

><p>Zuko learned about the cultists' strange abilities the hard way, when he found his fire simply would not do as he commanded, but he realized fast what was going on even if he could barely believe it. To avoid burning himself with his own flame, he began to rely on hand to hand combat instead, occasionally using what he learned from the Sun Worshipers, which his opponents seemed slightly less able to influence.<p>

Luckily it seemed that only two of the warriors he was fighting were able to influence his bending in that unbelievable way – the rest of them were normal fighters. Unfortunately, there were seven of them, and the ones fighting him directly were definitely masters. With his bending he might have been just barely holding on – without it he stood no chance.

Rushing on ahead was looking less and less like a good idea, but still he pressed on. He dodged a kick to the head one moment, then turned and fired a weak blast of fire the next. Slid past the pack of fighters for a surprise flank attack, only to knocked on his back once they recovered. Tore to his feet with a rising flame, and had to leap out of the way as his own fire turned and aimed straight for him.

It seemed for every blow he dished out, he received three in return. He was fighting a losing battle – not that that ever stopped him. Beaten and bruised as he was he dove into battle with more and more determination, but as the fight dragged on determination became desperation, until one last strike brought him down on a broken rib and busted jaw.

The cultists grabbed him off the ground and lifted him roughly to his feet, forcing him up as Zuko's father began to stride towards them, confident in his victory. With a malicious smirk and cold look in his eyes Ozai walked directly up to his son, Azula trailing behind them with a look of pure vindictive joy on her face: Zuko remembered seeing the same look when she was watching him be scarred by their father. He scowled.

"Father…" Zuko said with as much venom as he could muster through the pain. He spit at him, and one of the cultists holding him struck him across the face.

Ozai didn't seem bothered by this – he dodged the spit and spoke with more gloating than ever, "my son… it is a shame it has come to this. I admit I was mistaken about you – you have much more worth than I expected." Azula's gaze snapped to the back of Ozai's head in shock, though he ignored it. "But you would have done well to choose your sides better." He glanced up at the guards holding him. "Bring him."

Ozai turned and walked back to the platform he was speaking from earlier, his minions dragging Zuko behind him, wincing in pain as he struck what felt like every rock on the way there. Azula walked to their side, watching his pain as though it were a particularly entertaining play and laughing. Zuko threw her a scornful look and turned his attention back to his father.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Ozai was saying as they walked, "the power of this ancient sect. I am not ashamed to say they have abilities I could never even imagine – to manipulate the very art of bending itself: I would have thought only the Avatar had that kind of power had I not seen it myself."

_Of course,_ Zuko thought, _the only reason you're not ashamed is because you control them anyway. Arrogant…_

He must have said the last part out loud, because Ozai stopped posturing and Zuko received another strike to the face. For a moment Ozai waited to see if he dared interrupt again, and the only sound was Azula's delighted laughter. Satisfied he would not be interrupted again, Ozai silenced Azula with a look and continued.

"This art is old and rich in history – it may very well be connected to the roots of bending itself. An art long since past… it is no surprise that it has only existed within a small, secretive group of dedicated acolytes, being passed down but never shared outside the group, even to me. The cult has inducted many over the years – ancient fighting styles, neophytes of bending styles from across our world – though no airbenders, of course," he added with a smirk, "but the art of spiritbending is shared only to a chosen few. I cannot learn it, as though that would make a difference."

Zuko looked up with interest. It wasn't often his father admitted to being unable to do something. Ozai seemed to have noticed.

"Yes, I regret to say I could never gain the power you foolishly fought against, not fully. Such power takes a lifetime to master – even if I continued to bathe in these enriched waters for all of my life I would not have enough time to truly can superiority over the art – much like the differences between the elemental bending forms, it is near impossible. Downright unwise, even. And in any case, I do not need it. Soon I will be more powerful than ever before, even than I was with the intervention of Sozin's Comet!"

"Yeah, I heard…"

"SILENCE! Your friend the Avatar may have near destroyed me, but he will pay for not finishing me off. The mystical water here will make my spirit swell to unimaginable heights, so powerful even the more skilled of spiritbenders would fall to my might if I saw fit!"

Zuko suppressed the urge to spit at him again – he couldn't take his father's smug drivel a minute longer.

Azula chose this moment to barge into the conversation. "Father, please, can't I-"

"No, Azula! Do as you're told!" Azula cast her eyes downward and stepped back, and Ozai turned back to his son. "So you, my son, have a choice," he said, and his cruel eyes met Zuko's own, "join us and stand aside for the new world order, or perish here, a failed fool."

Disgust lined Zuko's every feature: this time he really did spit at him. "I would always choose death to you!"

Ozai barely reacted. "A pity," he said uncaringly, "finish him, while I ascend to my true destiny."

"No you don't!" A large rock suddenly flew into the middle of the group, and exploded into shards and dust upon hitting the ground. Ozai and his minions fell back to avoid the shrapnel and the enormous cloud of dust – he ex-Fire Lord himself crawled out of the cloud toward the edge of the pool, coughing profusely, and to his displeasure he looked up to see his son rescued by his friends, the ever meddlesome cohorts of the Avatar, along with that unknown who he had seem with him earlier.

"What are you waiting for!" he yelled at his men, "kill them!" He turned and bolted to the platform at the far end of the lake, as the battle began anew.

Unfortunately, with Zuko currently out of commission, Katara working on healing him, and the rest of them needing to protect the two of them in the meantime, the battle was badly one sided – unable to move from their position, they were quickly surrounded, and since Sokka and Aang were the only ones not majorly harmed by the spiritbenders' influence, they were slowly getting overwhelmed.

Rocks flew through the air as cultist Earthbenders struck like artillery, and it was all Toph could do to deflect them – she scowled, she wasn't used to being so defensive, but after the last time it wasn't wise for her to do anything else.

In fact, Aang, was the only one making a huge impact. Sokka could get a strike in once in a while, but while he could take on a bender or two on his own on a good day, being surrounded by Firebenders and Earthbenders as well as goons with swords meant he was constantly on the defensive, trying to avoid getting hit. Aang, meanwhile, was only barely affected by the Spiritbenders' power, and even then they only made his attacks go slightly out of his control which, when you're making wide sweeping waves of rock, wasn't such a bad thing. However, he could only do so much – the reinforcements had arrived – there were many more cultists here than there were when they first crashed the party, and it seemed he could no more take down one before two more took it's place.

_If only I could tap into the Avatar state..._ he thought anxiously. _But surrounded like this, it's way too likely that I'll just be hit before I tap into the power, just like last time. _He winced. _Really don't want to go through that again…_

"It's over, Avatar," a cruel voice mocked, weaving through the legion of cultists with a devilish smirk on her face.

_Speak of the devil…_ "You won't win, Azula," Aang said, not an inch of fear in his voice, "you're the one who's over and done with."

"You can talk about how 'heroic' you'll be as much as you want, but the reality is quite different. Father will gain ultimate power, he will finish you and your friends, and we will take this world into it's rightful place: kneeling on it's knees before myself and the Pheonix King."

"If you say so," Zuko groaned as he slowly picked himself up from the floor. Katara was nearly done with healing, and he knew for better or worse he would have to get into the fight as soon as possible.

Azula scowled furiously at him, "you had your chance to join under us, Zuko… but then again, you never were worthy of this sort of thing. I will be glad to rectify the Fire Nation's mistake!"

Meanwhile, sensing things were about to get at lot worse, Sokka whispered just low enough for Toph to hear and no one else. "Hey, Toph… how far can you reach with your Earthbending."

"Pretty far," Toph whispered back, "but with those spiritbenders in the middle of things I won't be able to hold anything for long, so I can't get anything going."

"That's not going to be a problem – we're going to strike all at once. Target the walls, and wait for my signal." Toph grinned as she realized Sokka's plan and nodded.

Azula continued to rant, not noticing anything, "so now it ends for the 'mighty' Avatar and his friends. It's shame we couldn't get your other Water Nation oaf and his pest of a girlfriend, but they and any other rebels will die soon enough."

Katara clenched her fists in fury, and made to attack Azula again – no matter how much back up she had – but Sokka remained impassive. He held out his hand to stop Katara and stared directly at Azula's deranged face.

"You are wrong, _Princess_," he spat out the title like a jeer. The others looked to him, a bit surprised, he had lowered his voice to the point that is was nearly unrecognizable. "As the Avatar and the Fire Lord said, you are the one who's finished. NOW!"

At that, Toph reached out and gave the walls a quick but powerful jolt. Sokka had guessed correctly: the chamber was not so low that it was completely below ground, far from it, and it had been so fully excavated that the walls of the mountain were thin. Not thin enough to be a problem regularly, but enough that a powerful enough Earthbender – a bill that Toph definitely fit to a tee – could shatter them with ease and send the walls tumbling down.

A threatening crack spread all across the chamber's roof. Several cultists took a step back, as if to run at a moment's notice. Azula looked up, a mix between shocked, terrified, and furious.

"It's over, Azula," Sokka said proudly.

"You… you…" she seethed, "WHO ARE YOU?"

"Me?" Sokka narrowed his eyes. "I'm… Wolfbatman!"

The rest of the gang made intense pains not to roll their eyes – Zuko was unable to stop himself from clutching his temples, and Toph started giggling softly.

"What? You-"

And then the crack shattered.

The result was pandemonium as the chamber started to collapse. Enormous rocks began to break off and fall from all over the area. The legion of cultists began to break up and run – only the Earthbenders stayed behind to try and stop it, but that only made them easy pickings as Toph and Katara immediately took the opportunity to knock them out. As for the spiritbenders, they were too distracted by the collapse to notice the attacks coming their way, let alone deflect them – suddenly, the fight was a lot more even as the gang tore through the cultists with a vengeance, while droves of others ran for the exits.

"You cowards!" Azula shrieked, "stand and fight, or I'll-"

She wasn't able to finish her sentence, for Zuko had vaulted over Sokka's head and plowed into her with a flying kick. Once again, brother and sister squared off.

"You can't ruin everything this time!" Azula was barely holding onto her composure by a thread, "I won't let you! I won't!" She punctuated each statement with a furious flaming strike, all of which Zuko dodged easily.

"You're still sloppy, Azula," Zuko said calmly, moving through all her moves fluidly and striking her in the stomach, sending her back a few steps. "You're still making the same mistakes in life.

"I make no mistakes. I am the superior sibling. I am the one Father chose to follow him. I am the one who will finally get what I nee- deserve."

"Are you?" Zuko raised an eyebrow, "I can't believe you still think that. Still scrabbling after Father like a lizard-puppy, hoping he'll care for you, give you some kind of validation."

Azula growled, and fought ever harder, but Zuko pressed on, still dodging by her increasingly erratic attacks with increasing ease.

"You have no life of your own. I feel sorry for you, for what Father made you into. So empty you can only fill your life with vain attempts at power and privilege. You try to control everything, even yourself, because you can't find worth any other way. Then everything fell apart and now you've got no control at all… no wonder you cling to Father like he's all you have left."

"SHUT! UP!" At that, Azula completely lost her composure, and fired an enormous burst of fire at her brother, to leapt out of the way and returned fire with a short blast of his own, sending her sprawling to the ground, and then made a ring of fire surround her.

"You're pathetic. And I'm done fighting you. Give up and stay down." He turned and walked away, leaving his sister behind. Azula, however, could not accept this.

"GET BACK HERE!" she seethed, scrambling to her feet and slipping in her haste. "DON'T YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON ME! ZUKO!" Zuko continued to ignore her, which only infuriated her more. "ZUKO!"

She leapt into the air with absolute fury - Zuko turned to see her already springing into the air, a deadly bolt of electricity charging in her hand, and narrowed his eyes.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" she screamed, and moved to fire the bolt straight at the face she hated so much.

"No." A powerful burst of air caught her in mid-air and sent her flying far into the distance, courtesy of Aang. She launched into the air, her lightning misfiring harmlessly into a small puddle of the lake's water, which burst into high flames but was otherwise harmless to them. "You won't." Aang said calmly, moving out of his airbending stance. Azula flew clear over the lake, and crashed in a far wall sliding down to the edge of that side, knocked out. "Heh, maybe I went a little overboard. You alright?" He askedZuko

Zuko scowled. "Yeah. I could have handled that on my own, you know."

"I know, but when it comes to her…" he scowled as he thought of all the terror and pain Azula brought with her every time they met, "It's best to not take any chances."

Zuko nodded and looked at the scene around him – between cultists running scared from the falling rocks, to those the others were taking down, to Azula being defeated, it looked like they were set to take care of everything… except…

"My father!" Zuko shouted. Ozai was nowhere to be found.

"Uh oh, I forgot about him in all the craziness, where…" Aang and Zuko turned to each other at the same time. "THE PLATFORM!"

They turned towards the far platform where Ozai prepared to do his ritual earlier and ran as fast as they could – Aang using an air ball to move even faster. The others noticed where they were going and followed behind.

But unfortunately, they were too late – as they ran, they could see Ozai's two aides pulling him out of the lake, glowing oddly, the process complete.

"You have failed Avatar…" Ozai growled, "you have all failed. Now, I am all powerf-urgh..." He doubled over and hissed in apparent pain.

"My lord," one of the robed men moved to hold him up, "the process has taken it's toll! We must retreat so you can recuperate."

"No chance of that, Ozai," Aang said, springing forward, "it's over!"

"NO!" Ozai shouted, and from his mouth have an enormous flame, knocking everyone falling to the ground. He doubled over again, but this time there was a malevolent grin on his face as he saw his enemies painfully sprawled in front of him. However, he could not yet finish them, not when he was so weak.

From one of the large holes in the cavern wall one of his airships landed, with most of his men already boarded and waiting, "it is time for us to make our leave." He gestured for his men to carry him to the ship, and they quickly made their escape.

The gang groaned and winced as they pulled themselves up off the ground. Aang scowled as he saw Ozai's airhip already a good distance away. "He's… he's getting away," Aang coughed, "Appa!" The sky bison reacted to the call with amazing speed, landing in front of them in seconds. He furiously gestured for his friends to follow. "Come on, we have to follow him!"

But even as they picked themselves up and quickly clamored to get onto the back of the Sky Bison, they were interrupted by Ozai's voice echoing from the sky above them. "You were wrong Avatar! It isn't over. Mark this, my enemies, my son, and your pathetic allies! Mark this as a taste of what is to come! Goodbye!"

He shrugged his aides off of him and concentrated – the gang watched in horror as an enormous aura of flame burned from Ozai's hands and a psychotic grin spread across his face.

"That little bit of the water that set fire earlier… that stuff must be flammable!" Sokka gasped, "Aang, we have to lift off now!" Aang nodded and Appa started to rise.

Zuko stood up. "But… Azula's still down there, we can't… cough… we have to go back!" He moved to jump off, but Sokka and Katara held him back.

"It's too late, Zuko," Sokka said, "there's no time, I'm sorry." Zuko struggled fiercely as the Sky Bison began to fly up into the air, but stopped along with everyone on board as he saw Ozai fire his attack. It was massive. Horrifically so. Though nowhere near as large as the assault he unleashed on the Earth Kingdom, still several times larger in width than even Appa.

"Come on, buddy! Fly!" Appa tore off into the sky, getting as far away as he could as the flames drew closer and closer to the island. He veered off to the side as the beam shot by, and his passengers winced with the sudden heat.

"We're not far enough away!" Sokka shouted, trying to get cover from the passing flames. "We're not gonna make it!"

"We'll make it!" Aang gritted his teeth and tried not to look back as the fire drew closer and closer to the opening in the mountain…

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><p>Azula groaned as she shook herself awake. She had no idea what happened, one minute she was fighting Zuko and the next she was laying here at the edge of the lake, what…<p>

And then she saw it. She looked up in fear as she saw an enormous flame coming right toward her. Right towards the lake, but that could only mean… no…

"F-father?" She squeaked, too fearful to look away.

And then the fire made contact.

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><p>The explosion was massive. It engulfed the entire island in an enormous fireball, sending Appa spiraling through the air by shockwave alone. The children held on for dear life as Aang fiercely tried to get the Sky Bison straightened out. He managed to regain balance just before they hit the water, and quickly regained their altitude before he joined the rest of his friends in looking back at the devastation.<p>

The island was gone. That was the only way to put it. Any kind of structure had been blown apart, and whatever's left was crumbling into itself – and all of it was smoking and burning ominously.

Ozai's airship had disappeared in the chaos.

Zuko looked down, fury and pain clear on his face, and the rest of them had no idea what to say. So they flew on in complete silence, all dwelling on what just happened and the clear message that came from it.

Ozai was not lying. This was just the beginning, and the horizon looked especially dark as they left the smoking remains behind.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> And so it ends... for now. There's still the epilogue, so don't think it's quite done, but this is definitely an ominous end to a trying beginning... just remember, you ain't seen nothing yet. More commentary to come in the epilogue.


	6. The Phoenix Reborn: Epilogue

**Disclaimer: I own no Avatar, no how.**

**So begins the end of the beginning...  
><strong>

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><p><strong>The Phoenix Reborn: Epilogue<strong>

"You may be Fire Lord, but you do not claim absolute power! How dare you enact such a mission without clearing it with us first!"

As Zuko figured, the Fire Lord's council of nobles was not particularly happy about him taking matters into his own hands and confronting his father. The debriefing after they returned – most of the exact details removed, of course – was quickly and soundly overtaken by criticisms and outrage as the nobles lashed out against the perceived slant against their authority, headed, naturally, by General Ibara.

"There was no time, General. My father had been located and his plans were soon to be fulfilled. I had to act, not tie up a decision in committee."

Ibara sneered. "This is what happens when you allow a child to be Fire Lord. With all due respect, _your majesty_," he spat out the title with great derision, "your impulsiveness likely did more harm than good this day-"

"_Decisive action,_" Zuko corrected, his voice becoming much more stern, "defeated my father's forces and foiled his plans to bolster his forces."

"And facilitated his escape!" A noble at the far end of the table shouted, banging his fist against the council table. "And what of this special agent you had with you, who is he?"

"A specially trained warrior who I trust to act in our best interest, and a special agent whom I bid to aid my actions," Zuko said in a closed manner.

"One of _several,_ perhaps?" Ibara accused. He turned to the other council members "our Fire Lord creates his own private task force, above the authority of the council, answering only to him! This, I question!"

"You didn't question that sort of thing before." Zuko said coldly, leaving no doubt as to what, and who, he was referring to. "Why start now?"

There was an awkward silence – no one seemed to have anything further to say.

Eventually, one voice spoke up from the middle of the table. "All I want to know, Zuko, is why you didn't tell _us,_" Sokka said, with a hurt tone entering his voice, "we could have helped you with this, why shut us out? Why did we have to hear it through the grapevine, after we've worked together so much?"

Zuko opened his mouth to respond, but Ibara butted in before he could. "Ha! The representative for the Water Tribes doesn't know his place. The Fire Lord does not have to answer to you! You may spend your days judging our nation, but if there is any saving grace to this debacle it is that it proves that our leader's trust is not placed in foreign meddlers and fair-weatherfriends."

"I think we ought to work together on this!" Sokka insisted, "Ozai is a threat to everyone, not just-"

"Feh! Cooperation? You jest. While your Avatar rushed to take command of our Lord's battles, you spent your time inspecting our nation while the leader was away. Shameful. Our battles are well to stay within our own authority, rather than place them in your hands."

Zuko and Sokka briefly exchanged a glance. Ibara had reacted just the way they had hoped. It was imperative that nobody, especially the nobles, realize who "Wolfbatman" really was: if they thought that Zuko was shutting out his friends just as much if not more than his own nobles, then they could remain safe. True to form, Ibara's nationalistic arrogance was letting him play right into their hands, and the rest of the nobles would no doubt follow suit.

"But while you may not need to answer to this foreign, you do have to answer to us. I demand that you-"

"No."

Taken aback by the sudden refusal, Ibara's eyes widened in surprise. He nearly tripped over his reaction. "W-what?"

"No," Zuko said softly, but coldly, "My father is my responsibility. He has ruined so much, nearly destroyed everything, all in the name of my family and my country, and I will make it my mission to stop him, personally if need be." His voice was rising, nearly shouting now. "You may have for reservations, but when it comes to him, I don't have to answer to any of you!"

"Zuko!" Sokka said, sounding appalled.

"Silence!" Zuko was full on shouting now, "I will take charge of any situation involving my father that I see fit, and you will all accept my decree. This meeting is over!" With that, we walked briskly out of the room, leaving the scandalized nobles (and one secretly impressed Sokka) to talk amongst themselves.

As the walls shut, Zuko walked a safe distance away and the leaned against a wall with a relieved sigh. Everything had gone according to plan – the nobles would be furious, but he knew they would defer to his authority on this. Not only that, but it was unlikely anyone would suspect Sokka after that, at least not for a long while. Everything had worked out fine…

"So…" a toneless voice said from behind him, "how long were you planning this little 'mission' of yours behind my back?"

Zuko winced – he forgot that there was one person he had to answer two. He turned slowly to see her with her arms crossed and her best impassive glare directed straight at him.

He was momentarily lost for words. "Er…"

This was not going to be fun.

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><p><em>Betrayed<em>.

A tattered figure stumbled through the rocky underground remains of the ruined island. Her red hooded cloak was burned and ripped, and the rest of her was in much worse condition. She had no idea if she was the only one around and no idea what time it was, or even if it was the same day.

The events she had woken up from were still buzzing around in her brain, and the crushing realization of everything that had happened to her was weighing down heavily. Everything had turned upside down in a short amount of time.

_I trusted Father… I trusted hm… he was my only true family, I worked so hard to please him and he tossed me aside like I was nothing. All my desire to prove myself… meaningless._

She walked along, looking for a coast, a sign anything. The searing pain of the boiling chemicals of the mystic lake descending upon her like acid was still there, but she powered on. She had to find something or someone to help her.

_I was nothing, all along. My inferior brother… he was supposed to be inferior… but in the end, everything I thought made me above him didn't exist…_

She trudged on with her thoughts for quite some time, until she spotted what looked like a clear pool in the rocky surroundings. Water! Finally!

She rushed over and bent down to get a drink, and then froze as the glimpsed her reflection.

_I tried so hard. I thought so much that I was above everything, entitled to grandeur. And just like that, I'm nothing._

"Heh."

_Everything. Nobody realizes… they live their shallow lives, not realizing how fragile, how fake they all are…_

"Heheheh"

_It's like a joke. All of it. One big hilarious joke. I'm not going to be the patsy any more, not now that I know how hilariously skewed it all is. That's the punchline!_

_My brother, my father, they all cling to their meaningless positions of power and morals and control… but it is all so wonderfully fleeting. And they don't even know!_

"Hehehahahaha… aheh… hehehe…"

_What fun it will be to show them that._

"Haaaahahahahahahahahaha-hehehehehehahahahahaha!"_**  
><strong>_

_**The End...**  
><em>

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><p><strong>Author's Note: And there you have it. The first of many, always nice to get the introductions out of the way.<strong>

**Looking back on it, the way this one was written was... iffy. Seems a bit off to me - like I convoluted up sentences without realizing it. Commas everywhere, and bulky besides. Something to work on.  
><strong>

**This chapter also addresses an issue that, due to my story not being an AU, I run into while the original Wolfbatman stuff doesn't. The AU Sokka has the liberty of being seen as a Bruce Wayne type fop figure to hide who he is, but in the main universe people know Sokka's a skill warrior and know he's fairly good at tactics besides, plus he represents his whole nation - he can't just act like an idiot all of a sudden. So he needs a different kind of smokescreen.**

**Anyways...  
><strong>

_**Next Time On Wolfbatman: It's Zuko's birthday and everyone in the capital is getting ready for a big bash - including someone who plans to crash the party in a decidedly dangerous way. Meanwhile, the search is on for clues about the mysterious League Of Shadows and for remnants of their old base. Will the Birthday feast become Zuko's last? Do dangers lie behind every corner? It's "No Laughing Matter," next time on Wolfbatman.**_

_**Same Wolfbat Time! Same Wolfbat Website!**_


	7. No Laughing Matter: Prologue

**Disclaimer: I own not Avatar nor the Batman elements present here.**

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><p><strong>No Laughing Matter: Prologue<strong>

Constable Mao took his job very seriously. The safety and sanctity of the streets of the Fire Nation Capital was always his one concern – it's the reason he never took a promotion to a more comfortable position no matter how often his dutifulness and dedication earned him an offer, and why no matter how much clout he had in the city guard he always walked his old beat straight through the capital.

He was also one of the few guards who wasn't frustrated and angry at the new regime – many in the military divisions of the Fire Nation, even the city guardians (particularly in the Capital), were unhappy with the change in policy that came with the crowning of Fire Lord Zuko, chastising their new ruler on everything from his inexperience to what they perceived as his softness and naivete. Nothing came of it, but Mao's peers, particularly the young ones, often spent their days grumbling and incensed rather than paying attention to their work, something the more experienced officer often chided them on. As for Mao himself, he had no particular animosity against the young former Prince. International politics rarely interested him, but he acknowledged what their new ruler was trying to do, and what he was fighting against, and appreciated him for his effort. Similarly, he urged his fellow guardsmen to support their king and, most of all, uphold their fair city, no matter what they would rather have.

All of which is why sights like the one in front of him were so irritating. The Fire Lord was celebrating a birthday within a few weeks and the city was having a major celebration, with dignitaries from the other nations even planning to visit. It was a major event, and to commemorate it several larger than life portraits of the Fire Lord himself had been commissioned on building-sides and walls around the city.

And one by one they were being literally defaced, including the one before him.

"Another piece of outlandish graffiti?" he scoffed in obvious anger. These were all definitely the work of the same vandal; like all the others, this painting of the Fire Lord's face had been burned – obviously the work of a Firebender – so that his features were caricaturized. His eyes had been replaced with ashy crescent moons, his hair completely seared away, and his usually solemn face was burned into a wide smile.

This sort of direct disrespect left Constable Mao more than outraged – his fists clenched angrily as he swept around the area. "Whoever is doing this," he growled, "I swear will be brought to justice." Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow figure dart into a side alley.

"Hey! You there! Stop!" He shouted after them. When there only response was to disappear further, he gave chase – no doubt this was the hoodlum he sought.

Unfortunately, whoever it was was fast as they were wily. He nearly lost them several times as his target twisted and turned through the various alleys and side streets - even more than in other areas, as this was the harbor district (a wretched cesspool of crime and villainy if Mao ever saw one). But Mao did not get to where he was by giving up: he pressed on, never letting the saboteur quite out of his sight.

Finally, the search led him to an open area between buildings. It was an obvious dead end – which led Mao to believe his quarry finally made a mistake – but when he reached the area the vandal was nowhere to be found.

"What?" He looked around, but found no one. He was just about to think that perhaps he was the one that made a mistake when his thoughts were interrupted by a wild, piercing laugh.

"Well well, I suppose you should be commended. You followed me all the way home. It seems not all the guards in this city are as dumb as rocks."

Mao searched around wildly, but could not find the speaker anywhere. "Show yourself, coward! You are under arrest by the authority of the city guard!"

There was that laugh again – it echoed all around him, chilling him to the bone, but Mao showed no outward reaction. "Oh no! Under arrest? Whatever shall I do? Hahahaha!" The speaker seemed overcome with laugher, but Mao was not amused.

"This is no joke, scum! I will repeat once more, show yourself or face the consequences!"

There was a brief silence, where all that could be heard was the criminal's giggling, and then… "as you wish!"

Suddenly Mao was struck hard from behind, sending him reeling to the ground. As he tried to rise and fight back, he was knocked down to his knees again by a burst of flame. Blue flame. It couldn't be…

Wracked with pain, Mao tried again to get up, but was instead forcibly turned onto his back by the criminal. His eyes widened with shock as he saw his attacker's twisted, scarred face.

"Well, here I am!" she said with a terrible grin that never seemed to end. "What's the matter?" she said to his horrified face, "it's what you wanted, isn't it? You ought to be a little happy, at least." She pouted in mock disappointment.

"It's… it's you!" Mao spluttered with a mix of realization and pain.

His attacker ignored him. "That's the problem with you city guards, always so serious, so ordered." She grabbed his armored collar with both hands, picked him up, slammed him against the wall and pulled off his helmet, all while smiling that same chilling grin. "These days, I prefer smiles..." She leered at him malevolently, and enveloped her remaining hand in blue flame. "… and chaos."

Constable Mao screamed a second before she struck. Throughout the next few minutes, there came from that alley a glow of blue light, a constant screaming, and a terrifying, undying laughter that persisted long after both had died away.

No one came to investigate – there was no one quite brave enough.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>You know what happens when computers crash? Chapters don't get written. Sorry about that folks. But here it is. Get your "I waited three weeks and all I got was a prologue" shirts here.

As an extra note, the Harbor District is where Zuko hired Combustion Man, for reference. Mao is a reference to a member of the Gotham Police force, who is currently deceased. There's also a tiny reference to Batman The Animated Series here, if you can find it.


	8. No Laughing Matter: Part 1

**Disclaimer:** Avatar? I don't own no stinking Avatar.

And sorry for the wait.

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><p><strong>No Laughing Matter: Part 1<strong>

Fire Lord Zuko was not happy.

Now, his friends and even himself may occasionally joke that he is never happy, but the truth was ever since the defeat of his father there has been a content balance of happiness and unhappiness that he has been fairly satisfied with, and at the moment he was well below his desired happiness level.

First, there was the birthday celebration. He didn't want it, didn't need it, and was frankly irritated that it had to happen. The last thing Zuko wanted was scores of Fire Nation in celebration not for peace, nor for prosperity or togetherness, but simply to idolize him. The way he saw it that was the sort of thing his father or Azula would do: dedicate whole days to themselves and bask in their arrogance and reverence. He didn't want any of that – he wasn't worth it, and in his opinion the success of the nation was a much more righteous thing to be partying over.

Unfortunately, it seemed like everyone was against him on this. His Uncle argued that this sort of celebration was traditional not simply because of ego, but because of what it represented for the nation: unity under its ruler and pride for the nation as a whole, things that the nation sorely needed after the fall of Ozai and the reshaping of the world after the war. He urged Zuko to be happy the world wanted to celebrate his birth. Katara and surprisingly Mai teamed up to pressure him with talk about what kind of private parties he wanted, and started sneaking birthday decorations around the palace (with, he suspected, the help of Toph and Sokka). Sokka kept hinting he was going to kidnap him and force him to have a guys night out on the day of his birthday (though Zuko would have loved to see him try).

But the clincher came when Aang told him in no uncertain terms that if Zuko did not make an official celebration then he would do it himself, invite every noble from there to Whale Tail Island, and force Zuko to come even if they had to tie him up. The very idea of being dragged to a party in his honor run by Aang (with lots of help from his Uncle, no doubt) forced him to very begrudgingly sign off on the festivities. But that didn't mean he had to be happy about it.

And if he heard one of them say one more times that "only you could be miserable that scores of people are celebrating your birthday" he thinks he might punch something.

Which brings us to the second thing currently making him unhappy: the overexcited Water Tribe warrior standing next to him who won't. Shut. Up.

"Is that them? Oh, I can't wait. Suki says she'll be able to stay for a whole two weeks. I wonder how much she's been able to do since we've last met. I remember she sent me a letter saying she liberated a village from a bunch of pirates, I can't wait to hear the whole story! Seriously, is that them? Aw, the moment I see her I'm gonna-"

Zuko's eye twitched. To be fair he understood why Sokka was so excited – the months he had spent away from Mai were torture, so he could relate to Sokka being ecstatic to see his girlfriend again. Plus, his uncle was coming in on the same ship from Ba Sing Se, and he was thrilled to be able to see him again. But you didn't see him yammering on constantly about it.

He touched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "Sokka, would you please…"

"There they are!"

Zuko followed Sokka's pointing finger towards the dockside and, seeing what Sokka saw, allowed him to smile just a bit. Many passenger transports, particularly ones carrying important visitors, docked in a different area than the harbor district – and especially transports such as this would merit the royal ports; the enormous ship carried all the delegates from the Earth Kingdom who would be present at the celebrations, as well as assorted Earth Kingdom affiliated visitors to the event. This included Iroh, the Earth King and, of course…

"Suki!" Sokka caught sight of the Kyoshi Warrior's leader just as she was debarking from the ship, rushed down to the pier and threw his arms around her. Zuko followed slowly behind, chuckling to himself. "I missed you so much!"

"Hey Sokka," she laughed, looking down at his face – which was snuggled into her shoulder - with fond amusement. "I missed you o…" she said much softer, as she gave him a quick kiss. "Now, maybe we delegates should be a little more dignified?" she continued, laughter still on her voice. "Have to look official, right?" She gestured to her full Kyoshi uniform and face paint.

"Oh, right!" Sokka darted off of her dusted himself off, as if that would shrug off the scene he just made. No such luck, nobles were still chuckling good naturedly as they walked by, mirroring the amused expression of the Fire Lord as they greeted him. "How are you?" Sokka said, "I heard about the trouble you had with those pirates, are you all right?"

"Oh, Sokka. I'm fine." Suki waved her hand flippantly, but gave him a wide smile. "What's more, I brought a few friends."

"Uh-"

"Hey Sokka!" said a lofty voice from the ramp down to the pier. Flouncing towards them with an energetic yet confident air, and a pony tail as bouncy as she was, was the Kyoshi warriors' newest recruit.

"Ty Lee!" Sokka gave her an energetic hug, "how's it going?"

"Oh, you know… drills one moment, pirates the next. I'm trying to get the warriors to organize a travelling dance troupe, to help ease the souls hurt by the war!"

"Really?" Sokka smiled deviously, noticing Suki's frantic gesturing for him to drop the subject. "I can't wait to hear all about it!"

"Mai will be glad to see you," Zuko said serenely. He knew his fiancée had very few real friends, and as opposite as they were he also knew the two girls were inseparable.

He spotted two other people coming down the ramp and detached himself from the conversation to greet them. "Uncle." He said with a fondness he only saved for his surrogate father, pulling him into a brief but warm hug. "It's good to see you, as always."

"The same to you, Zuko. You look well. Better than have been for much too long. I hope you're not still bitter about the birthday celebration."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Still extremely bitter, yes." He deadpanned.

"Well then," Iroh laughed, "I hope you at least don't mind that I brought a guest." He gestured to his companion, who Zuko had noticed before but had tried not to think about just yet.

"Jin." He bowed softly and gave her a gentle hug.

"I'm glad to see you're not still sulking Zuko," Jin beamed, "your Uncle owes me a bonus on my paycheck, he bet me you'd still be pouting even now."

After he broke off things with her and went back to the Fire Nation, Jin and Zuko remained good friends, particularly as she started to work for Iroh. And it wasn't even that he was nervous about romantic entanglements – Jin was not one to overstep her boundaries, and besides he was fairly sure she was over him. No, what began to worry him the moment he saw her was what might happen when Jin got back to the castle. She and Mai got along well enough, as Mai understood that she was a fling he had before they had officially gotten together and wasn't the type to make mountains out of molehills.

However, that didn't mean Mai would be happy to have his old flame staying in the castle.

"Why the heck is Jin here?" he whispered to Iroh in an almost panicky tone as Jin moved on to greet Sokka.

"Why not?" Iroh answered, confused, "she's getting to be like one of the family, isn't she?"

"Well, yeah," Zuko admitted. Jin was starting to settle into a niche as something like a cousin, which was good seeing as she had no family of her own thanks to her refugee status. "But did you have to bring her to stay at the castle? Couldn't you have sent her letters about the celebration or something and let her run the shop."

"Why should I have left her?" Iroh countered, "she's my protégé, isn't she? I've never seen anyone mix a tea like she does, it's almost like magic. Soon she'll be a better flavor-master than I am. What's gotten into you, Zuko. It's not like you to be so inhosbitable." He affixed Zuko with his best disapproving glare, one of the few things able to get the dignified Fire Lord to look sheepish.

"Well, it's just… y'know… Mai…"

"Ah, Zuko. When you bring coal and wood together you should nurture a gentle flame, not irrationally fear a blazing inferno."

"Uncle…" Zuko, as always, quickly lost patience for his Uncle's enigmatic sayings. Iroh merely laughed again.

"You worry too much. Mai and Jin will get along just as they have done in the past."

"I suppose… in any case there's nothing I can do to get out of it now. Might as well resign myself to it and greet the rest of the delegates."

"That's the spirit!"

Zuko sighed and looked towards the coming procession. The individual delegates were dying down, which could only mean one thing: the most important passenger on the ship was disembarking. Which, he realized with a jolt, meant it was time to leave.

"Come," he called to his friends and family, interrupting their animated conversation. "We should hurry to the castle, in order to make an official royal greeting for the Earth King."

* * *

><p>"This is quite a wonderful greeting you've given us, Fire Lord Zuko," said Kuei, The Earth King, in his usual amiable manner.<p>

Zuko bowed respectfully, trying desperately not to let himself sweat, or pant, or collapse. Since he had completely forgotten about the Earth King's necessary royal greeting until moment the monarch had stepped off the boat the lot of them were forced to sprint all the way back to the palace just to get things in order in time. He was still out of breath, Iroh looked no better and Jin had apparently collapsed outside of the throne room, though Zuko was jealous to note that Suki and Sokka looked relatively fine. In any case, it was lucky that Mai had remembered in his stead and organized the reception in his absence, so all he had to do was get into position.

Mai stood by his side and nudged him as his windedness got the better of him for a moment. "Yes," he said a little to sharply. The Earth King jumped slightly. "Well, it is all for the goodwill between the nations, and it's leaders."

"Well said, your majesty." The Earth King grinned. "You and your lovely fiancée do the Fire Nation proud."

Zuko smiled. He always felt nervous around the Earth King, no matter how many times he met him, as he was sure did Mai, just a bit even if she never showed it. After all, both of them had been personally involved in the conquest of Ba Sing Se – Mai might have even personally taken the man hostage, Zuko couldn't quite remember. He was sure that the young monarch would have held a grudge, that any wrong movement would've caused another war between the two nations. But as always the Earth King surprised him with his jaunty kindness and understanding – a surprising break from the self-aggrandizing, controlling nobles one usually found in such positions.

"Your respect fills us with gratitude, your grace." He gave a brief nod of a bow again, and the Earth King returned it in kind. "I hope you enjoyed your journey."

"It was an average trip. Lots of water. Nothing to do. I could certainly have had it much shorter, that's for sure."

Zuko fought back the urge to make a suggestion. Though he was sure the spread of airship technology was a vital step in international relations, and would make transportation much faster, many overseas, especially those in the Earth Kingdom, were still wary of the flying machines, which were still associated with war and destruction. "Well," he said simply, "We hope you will enjoy the celebrations much better."

"Oh yes," Kuei said excitedly, "it promises to be quite the event. Though of course you know I'll be staying for quite a while longer than the birthday celebration."

Zuko nodded. He understood that for the Earth King this was not only a vacation and a celebration, but the beginning of a diplomatic mission. Many political talks were sure to ensue. "Of course, your chambers are all ready for your lengthy and hopefully beneficial stay."

"Wonderful," the Earth King returned, then he hurriedly gestured to a man standing behind him. "Oh, I almost forgot. Allow me to introduce my new personal bodyguard, Chon Qo Ban. An earthbending prodigy, though of course nothing to the amazing talents of Toph Bei Fong, nor the Avatar."

Off to the side of the chamber, Toph gave a disparaging snort from her place next to Katara, Aang and Sokka. Out of the corner of his eye Zuko saw Katara kick her inconspicuously, and he tried not to smile.

"In fact," the Earth King continued - neither he nor Chon Qo Ban appeared to have heard anything, "he is particularly interested in meeting the Avatar and his friends, perhaps even studying alongside them. He is curious about the secrets of metalbending." Zuko heard Toph give another disparaging noise, but luckily just like the first time his guests seemed to have heard nothing. "He will be going wherever I go, so we will no doubt all get very well acquainted."

"Yes… I am sure…" Zuko said uneasily.

"Well," the Earth King said brightly, "I think I'll see my quarters, though I'm sure they are absolutely perfect. Come, my friends!" He gestured merrily to his entourage and they all walked briskly out of the throne room leaving the Fire Lord and his own friends alone.

"Well," Mai whispered to him as they disappeared down a hallway. "At least he didn't bring the bear."

This time, Zuko couldn't resist a small chuckle. Luckily, no one saw except Mai.

He waited a half hour for the nobles to file out of the throne room and begin to mingle again before inconspicuously getting word to all of his most important guests. Some in person, some via handmaiden, some via the word of the others and others still simply because they already knew, but all one message: "we have important things to discuss. Meet me now."

* * *

><p>Dipping out and making their way to one of the several war rooms in the palace was easy – the nobles expected Zuko to be making plans about his father, and much as they hated it they knew the Avatar would be involved, so those that did notice him taking his leave were apparently not overly suspicious. He left the future Fire Lady in charge of mingling and placating the nobles just like last time – a job he was sure she hated and would be unlikely to do for anyone that wasn't him (he needed to find some way to make it up to her, that's for sure) – and made his way towards the war room two floors up.<p>

Over the next few minutes he was joined by a veritable round table of people he could trust: Aang, Sokka, Katara, Suki, Ty Lee, Toph and his Uncle. All of them sat down with solemn faces, except for Aang who always seemed to be somewhere between solemn and a smile.

"So, what's up Zuko?" Aang said lightly as they all got situated.

"You know what's up, Aang. We need to outline who is doing what today. Here's the plan-"

Aang visibly drooped – as always his emotions were easily seen. "You know, I kind of hoped you'd forgotten about doing the plan today Zuko. I mean, who plans this sort of thing on their birthday, after all?"

"This the perfect time to do it – while everyone is already busy with the festivities a small bit of private exploration will be easy to get over and done with. Plus, I've already had this planned for this time ever since the explosion, and it's only now that I… er…"

"You what?" Sokka asked.

"Er… well…"

"Zuko!" Ty Lee gasped, "don't tell me you forgot your own birthday!"

"Well, it never really seemed that important before…"

There was a long silence, with the only sounded being Iroh's resigned sigh.

Katara was the first to speak. "Because that is so very depressing, I vote we just table that for now and move on." She quipped.

"Seconded."

"Yeah, sure."

"Fine," Zuko said brusquely, "so anyways, the plan is this. While the first part of the ceremony goes on this weekend, a group will travel to the remains of my father's island base and find whatever remnants you can about him or that group he's affiliated himself with."

"Whoever goes will have to be careful," Iroh said serenely, "my brother is never one to be underestimated, and you can never know how well he defends his own. And these spiritbenders, you say. Their power sounds most distressing of all. I have never encountered such a thing, and I hope I never will."

"Right. That's why Aang, I want you to be the main member of this team."

The young Avatar nearly fell out of his chair. "What?" he shouted, "B-but shouldn't I be there to show support on your birthday? I wanted to be there!"

"And you will be there, Aang." Zuko explained with a calm tone to contrast his friend's alarm, "but you don't need to be there for the whole time. When they know you are doing something for me, something that will help bring peace to the world, people will understand. Plus, on Appa you should be able to leave this morning, explore the area, and return before the reception after the main ceremony. But we need you there – you are the only bender we have, maybe the only bender in the world, who can resist their spiritbending should you come across any defense once you arrive, and you're the most powerful bender in the world besides – I would rather have you there making sure everything goes smoothly than here listening to pretentious nobles droning on trying to suck up to me."

Aang pouted but did not object, so Zuko continued. "Toph, I would like you to go as well. Your ability to sense the earth around the island should make exploring the area much less dangerous."

"Awesome! I was hoping I wouldn't have to drag my feet around here."

Zuko nodded with a smile. "Suki, I know you might rather be here with Sokka, but I would like you and Ty Lee to bring the number to four. You two are amazing warriors who need no bending, which should make a vital asset against the spiritbenders."

"All right!" Ty Lee beamed, "I get to ride on the Sky Bison and explore a giant cave! I'm in!"

"Sorry Sokka, but his plan makes sense." Suki shrugged, then smirked. "You think you'll be all right without me for a few hours."

"Oh, I think I'll manage." Sokka turned to Zuko. "So I take it that means you don't want me going on this adventure?"

"No. Truth be told I kind of want people I can trust here with me as well. I'd rather not be around a bunch of nobles all day without some reassurance. And Katara, you might like to stay as well. Particularly as, well, since Aang won't be here…"

Katara sighed. "Yeah, I know. The whole 'Lady of the Avatar' thing, I get it. Someone has to put on a good show, I suppose."

Zuko looked shocked, while Aang raised his eyebrows at her. "No! I didn't mean it that I way, I swear. I just meant that since Aang won't be here it might be best for as many of us who were fighting together to be there. I mean, of course especially you because of you and Aang's relationship, but I would never imply that-"

"It's alright, Zuko." Katara reassured him, "I'm sorry for jumping like that. I'll be here." Zuko gave a relieved smile.

"Right… so, that leaves me. Because I definitely have to be here, right?"

"Yes!" They all shouted back.

Zuko sighed. "Fine. On with the show. I'm sure this whole event is going to be one big waste of-"

"Ah, stop moping you big whiner." Toph joked as the group moved to leave the room, "try to enjoy something for once!"

Zuko crossed him arms as if the very idea was worthy of disapproval, and the rest of them laughed at him. This only caused him to glower more.

"Heh, I believe it is Jin who owes me now." Iroh laughed while kindly holding the open door for the rest.

"Right, very funny," Zuko rolled his eyes, and began to lead them down to the main area. "I think you had all better be off, the sooner the better. Appa should get you there faster than an airship ever could. Just be careful, you never know what might be lurking behind ever corn-aaagh!"

The others flinched as Zuko crashed into someone who was waiting just around the corner. Zuko jumped back in shock, before recognizing the person as Chon Qo Ban, the Earth King's bodyguard.

"I am sorry, I was not watching where I was going," Qo Ban bowed in deference, "though I was on my way to meet you regardless."

"Really? What business does the Earth King have for me?"

"Well, the two of us know of your troubles with your father, and we know that you are no doubt soon to fight against him," the man began. "We want you to know that we are with you against that monstrous tyrant, and the Earth King felt it would be good training for myself to help you in some of the operations you make against him and fight alongside the Avatar and his friends, especially the skilled earthbending of Toph Bei Fong."

"You want to… learn from us?" Katara asked, while Toph made another snort behind her.

"Yes, and thankfully the Earth King bid me to do so, if you'll let me. This sounds like the opportunity of a lifetime!"

Zuko turned to the others, silently asking them whether they were ok with another man on their team. There was mixed emotion but general approval, and Aang capped it off with a cheerful "the more the merrier!"

Zuko gave a short smile. "You're in luck, Qo Ban. We were getting ready to enact a plan right now. You're welcome to follow them, just be careful – my father is not to be underestimated."

"Of course," Quo Ban nodded, "I will not let you down." With one last set of waves between friends, the two groups split up and went separate ways – Aang, Suki, Ty Lee, Toph and Chon in one direction, Zuko, Uncle Iroh, Katara and Sokka in another.

"I think I've got a bad feeling about this…" Katara said.

"Don't worry," Iroh put a hand on her shoulder, "they will be fine. After all, they are in very good hands – their own."

"What about that new guy?" Sokka added.

"If the Earth King trusts his skills, then so do I," Zuko pressed on. "In any case, that's the least of our worries. I assure you the party will be all sorts of terrible."

"Y'know, Toph's right." Sokka's tone was one that needed no eye roll for emphasis. "You really do need to stop whining. How bad could it be?"

* * *

><p>Aang and company managed to depart for the ruined island in short order, leaving Zuko and company to almost-as-difficult task of enduring Zuko's the initial birthday commemoration – or as Zuko put it, several hours of torture.<p>

The commemoration took place in a sizable but walled off audience hall, adorned with an extravagantly decorated stage and intricate designs all around the complex. The building was usually used for the occasional imperial decree, or the most prestigious of outdoor theatrical performances. The majority of the audience sat or, slightly further back, stood at ground level, and even further back sat on raised, aisled seating. While the most important nobles and attendants sat upon the stage behind the speaker: Mai looking impassive as usual, Zuko sitting as dignified as he could muster, the Earth King looking cheerfully serene, Iroh – who had done this sort of thing countless times and was thus used to it – sharing the Earth King's contented dignity, as well as several members of the council. Due to being only an unofficial ambassador of the smaller water tribe Sokka was not allowed onto the stage (to both his and Zuko's chagrin) so he sat encouragingly in the first row next to Katara and Jin. A man who may have been a dignitary from the Northern Water Tribe (Sokka only vaguely recognized him) sat alongside the nobles on the stage, though he didn't look at anyone, didn't speak to anyone, and made no effort to be have any presence whatsoever.

Up on stage, a man was speaking in support of the Fire Lord – General Ibara. Though Sokka had not had the same direct experience with him that the others had, only knowing him through the council meetings, he knew enough to know that everything the man was saying was probably a lie. He sighed: it had taken an hour or so, but Sokka and Katara eventually realized that Zuko was right – this whole event was tedious and a bit artificial. Well, at least Jin was excited, which made sense: she was just a poor refugee - she had likely never even dreamed she might one day attend an event like this. The Water Tribe siblings, however, were not so lucky to have her wide-eyed excitement.

Meanwhile Zuko, who probably hadn't had anything resembling wide-eyed excitement in over a decade, was relying heavily on his hard earned patience to get him through the event.

"… and so, it is with great honor that we are every day privileged to live in the world of Lord Zuko's dream," Ibara droned on at the head of the stage, "to accept the great universal prosperity of his vision, not just for our own great nation, but for the entire world. And on this day, we bless the birth of the man who will lead us to a future of great peace!"

Zuko put great effort into not rolling his eyes. He, like Sokka, had long known that Ibara was only making this speech to keep up appearances and believed as much in Zuko's regime as a lion-vulture believes in it's next meal's survival.

"It is thus with great happiness that we allow ourselves to be graced with the Fire Lord's presence, and his speech. I give you Fire Lord Zuko!"

The crowd thundered with applause as Ibara moved out of the way and Zuko stood to make his speech, with Sokka and Katara clapping particularly hard now that Ibara was finished. Zuko and Ibara smiled politely and shook each other's hands, before Zuko turned to the crowd in front of him and cleared his throat.

"My people…" The crowd thundered into more applause at his first word, and he had to pause for a moment until they died down. "It is an honor to stand here in front of your appreciation, you who I serve every day in the hope that our future is better than the one we have seen for the past hundred years. I will tell the truth, my kingship is not one about power, or about looking powerful – it is one about peace. About a universal unity that will last a thousand years more than our century of war. And I pledge to dedicate my life to that reality, no matter what."

"Hehehehe…"

"So today I wish that we do not just celebrate my birth, but the birth of our nation into something greater than it once was. We celebrate the birth of our world into something whole and complete, something…"

"Hehehehehehahahaha!"

Zuko's speech trailed off as a chilling laughter began to fill the air. It hung eerily throughout the amphitheater, amplified by the stage and magnified out into the audience. Whoever was laughing was obviously in or near the stage, but on the stage itself the laughter echoed so much that it was almost impossible to tell where.

"I know that laugh…" Zuko said softly, as his eyes searched in vain for the source. It gave him a bad feeling, a very bad feeling. A nervous terror that he couldn't quite explain panged at his heart, but he noticed his friends must have shared his feeling because they were quickly moving into a confused but cautious stance.

Suddenly the laughter stopped. And for a half-second everyone thought the interruption was done, everyone except the Fire Lord. Then, a voice rang out.

"Oh, Zuzu. You never change."

Zuko's eyes widened and he jerked in shock. He definitely knew that voice, and nobody else called him by that name. "No… it's impossible!" He shouted.

Several people in the crowd gasped in recognition, but far too many simply stood in confusion. The only person darting into action were the guards, who were attempting to reinforce the stage.

"But that's not surprising, you always were a bit of a stick in the mud."

Without notice a figure leapt from the stage's ceiling to the middle of its floor, causing the crowd to gasp again, especially when they saw the figures face. This time, people started screaming in recognition, and a few closer to the stage began pushing away in fear. The figure didn't care, though – her gaze was focused only on one person, with an almost hungry look.

"I hope you don't mind," Azula said to her brother, the wicked gleam in her eyes matching her malevolent grin, "but I invited myself to the party. It's nice to see you again, brother."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> You have nothing to blame but my own procrastination and writer's block for this one. Truth be told, I blame my other major ongoing story for this - I got stuck writing a chapter of Amazing Chan Adventures, and couldn't write anything substantial until that was done. Honestly, I'm a little ashamed of my progress - I had planned to have this whole one mostly done by the end of this year and especially done by the time Korra comes out, but here we are in December and and I've only gotten one story done (Offhand I can think of over seven stories that are supposed to go into this one).

I'm going to try to have No Laughing Matter done by the New Year, though. Shouldn't be too hard, this one has a few long scenes, but it is really just a few scenes.

Anyways, onto the story, here's a fair bit of lead-in, eh? It occurred to me while writing this that the Earth King was a character I didn't have quite as much a bead on as the other characters, but I'm fairly sure I got him done well.

I imagined the audience hall where the commemoration/celebration is taking place to be similar to a Roman theatre (but of course more Japanese Imperial in architecture design). It's all technically outdoors but still a building, and the stage has a constructed area around it. Just in case my narration led to some confusion as to what it looked like.


	9. No Laughing Matter: Part 2

Disclaimer:  Yadda Yadda doesn't own Avatar. Yadda yadda doesn't own the Batman elements. Yadda yadda Happy Holidays.

* * *

><p><strong>No Laughing Matter: Part 2<strong>

The cave was dark and dank, and trudging through the tunnels without any light aside from Aang's firebending was not a very pleasant experience, but they were lucky to have found any surviving passageways at all; the explosion had collapsed most of the underground complex, but luckily Toph was able to sense some intact areas with her earthbending and had the finesse to dig a way into them that wouldn't deteriorate them further.

Still, that didn't make trudging through the claustrophobic twists and turns any less uneasy, and Ty Lee's attempts to brighten everyone's spirits through conversation didn't help matters either.

"I can't believe how huge this place is on the inside?" She said, having not spent more than five minutes silently for the past few hours, "I can't believe Ozai built this place without anyone noticing! Heck, I can't believe Azula willingly spent so much time in this grimy place – she's almost like me about her looks, and after only an hour in here I'm starting to wig out already." As if to put her case in point she avoided a particularly large muddy puddle on the floor – the tunnel system had apparently flooded after the explosion and drained somehow.

"I think Azula was focusing of other things besides her appearance," said Aang semi-sarcastically.

"You don't know Azula like I do. She usually wouldn't stand a place like this, but I guess after Mai and I left that was it. She just…"

"Went completely bonkers?" Toph offered helpfully.

"Yeah… and you know I'm glad everything turned out alright, but even after all she put everyone through I can't help but feel sorry for her." She sighed as she thought about her friends fate.

"Well, pardon me if I don't share your sympathy. Believe me when I say I'm very happy we won't have to deal with her anymore," Suki said curtly. Ty Lee sighed again, but nodded in doleful agreement.

"So…" Aang said from his spot in the lead of the group. "Anyways… where are we? You can sense earth better than I can, Toph. Can you tell where we're headed?"

"Yeah, actually." Toph grunted. "There's a bunch more tunnels ahead of us though, including a place where the path splits."

Everyone groaned, Ty Lee saying the words they were all thinking. "Aw, man. There's even more of this?"

"Looks like we've got a lot of searching left to do," Suki sighed deeply. "I hope Sokka's doing a lot better than we are."

"Heh. With all those stuffy politicians? I bet he's bored out of his mind." Aang chuckled. "He's probably just waiting for us to get back and join him."

Suki sighed again, a little more morose this time. "Yeah…"

"Aw, don't worry." Toph grinned, "We'll be outta this place in no time, then you and Sokka can join up and slobber all over each other as much as you want." She giggled for a few moments, then winced at her own joke and fell silent. Aang and Ty Lee laughed on without her without noticing.

Suki glowered. "Very funny, guys. Are we close to finding anything?"

It took Aang a minute or so to calm himself down long enough to speak. "Well, heh, I've noticed markings along the walls that suggest we're headed towards something at least. What to do you think, Toph?"

Toph grunted absently and gestured forward.

"Yes," came the voice of Chon Qo Ban from the back of the group, speaking for the first time in hours. "We certainly won't find anything going back the way we came. Better to keep moving forward." The rest of the group jumped, even Toph who had become suddenly distant. He had remained so silent that they had almost forgotten he had been there.

"Y-yeah, good point. Toph, you said there was a fork in the road coming. How far away is it?"

Toph rolled her eyes and gestured sarcastically in front of them. Aang reddened slightly; they had reached the fork while talking – it was right in front of them.

"O…kay. Well, we could go one way or the other, but to cut down on time I think we should split up. Toph, you're our guide. What do you think?"

"Either way is fine," came the curt reply.

"Alrighty. Toph, you and Suki take the path to the left." Toph flinched slightly, but didn't object. "Chon, Ty Lee and I will take the path to the right. If either group finds anything, we'll send out a wave through the Earth to where the others are, ok?"

The rest of the gang nodded except Chon, who started in surprise, "W-what? Just the two of them? Er… wouldn't it be better for them to have more in number? I mean, you are the Avatar and can take care of yourself fine, but I don't feel comfortable leaving them-"

Aang laughed. "Trust me, Toph and Suki can take care of themselves fine. Right?" Suki smirked and pretended to yawn.

"Yeah, I think we'll be just fine. I've got a torch, so we don't need help with light, and I doubt we'll run anything that could handle the two of us, eh Toph?"

"Whatever." Toph sighed in irritation, and walked off down the left path on her own, surprising everyone.

The rest of the gang stared after her in stunned silence. "What's up with her?" Aang asked.

"Something's been bugging her." Ty Lee rubbed her chin in thought. "You can see it in her aura sometimes. It's very strong, because she's such a stubborn person, but I can tell she keeps things bottled up. There's a flicker here or there. It can't be healthy."

"Maybe I should talk to her," Aang started to walk off down the left path, but Suki reached and stopped him.

"I'll do it. You guys explore that way. We'll be fine."

The three remaining members stood and watched her follow their friend down the passageway, before making their way down their own path. "I wonder what's bugging Toph," Aang said as they walked off, "It isn't like her to be so distant."

"Is that so?" Chon said with a vague tone of disinterest. Aang, who was too worried about his friend to notice, continued on.

"Yeah, I mean she's always sarcastic and blunt, but never distant like that."

"Whatever that is could totally mess up her chi if she's not careful," Ty Lee noted brightly.

"I suppose…" Aang trailed off, considering it for a moment while Ty Lee stared vaguely at him. Chon, on the other hand, was staring at the tunnel walls instead. "But this is Toph we're talking about. I'm sure she'll be fine."

"Yes," Chon said dryly, "well, as you're sure Ms. Bei Fong is not headed for a meltdown, why not see what's on these walls instead?" He gestured to a group of markings that adorned the hallways, which appeared to be pointing in the direction they were going. "I think we may have found the path to something interesting."

Aang's eyes widened. "Whoa! You're right! I think we hit the jackpot, let's go!"

_...Meanwhile, With Toph and Suki…_

It took Suki a few minutes to catch up with Toph, who was walking very deliberately towards wherever the tunnel led to even though she probably had just as little idea what they were heading into as Suki did. It took even longer to get her to talk.

At first she tried a simple greeting – walking up to her with a good-natured "hey, Toph!" To that, she got an aggravated sigh and a very gruff "hey, Suki" right back. It took a few minutes before Suki felt she had waited long enough to try and get her friend to open up.

"Are you alright?"

A grunt in response, but that's it.

"Come on, Toph. What's bothering you?"

Nothing.

"Look, I know something's up, and it doesn't help anyone if you don't talk about it."

Still nothing, except this time she rolled her eyes and started walking away even faster. Like that was going to work.

At this point (that is, now that most of her patience had flown the coop), Suki decided to ditch the passive approach and attack this issue head on, like a true warrior.

"Listen, Toph. This has got to stop. I can tell you have a problem, and I'm pretty sure it's with me – even if you don't want to admit it to yourself. We get along well enough most of the time, but every once in a while you get like this, and it's almost always around me." Toph still did not make any indication that she had heard. Steam could have been coming out of Suki's ears, she was getting so frustrated. "Would you say something, already? You don't have to like it, but we're working together here: you could at least try and be social. Argh, maybe I should've had Aang do this and gone with Ty Lee instead," she grumbled.

At first, Toph still made no sign she had heard, much to Suki's frustration. She was just about to give up and resign herself to an awkwardly quiet mission, however, when Toph finally made a response.

"It's… not your fault." Suki blinked in surprise at how soft and quiet her voice was, not at all like Toph usually was.

"What do you mean? How are you… oh…" Suki was skilled at lot of things, but she especially prided herself on her perceptiveness. Over the time she had spend with the gang on the road she had noticed some of the subtle differences in the way Toph acted around her friends – some in particular more than others – even if the others didn't realize. She had, however, thought Toph had gotten over this particular issue, but there was very little else it could be now that she thought about it. She winced. "Still?"

Toph's eyes widened at the knowledge that Suki knew her secret, but she didn't make a point of it. Instead, she just sighed in resignation. "Yeah… I guess."

"I'm sorry," Suki said sincerely. "I didn't know you still felt that way. And… well… I suppose I know how hard my being here probably is for you, then." She decided to tentatively try and bridge the situation. "Is there… anything I can do to help?"

"Really, it's not…" she started wearily, but stopped herself. "Just... don't bring it up, okay? Please. Especially not around… you know. I don't like to think about it. It'll pass. This kind of thing always does, Iroh says. And I kind of hope it gets on with it already." She crossed her arms in disappointment and walked on, but paused before continuing. "And… I don't mean to step on you like that. I will, sometimes. I'm sorry. I don't say that a lot, either, so don't get used to it."

"It's alright." Suki smiled. "So… friends?"

Toph scoffed. "No need to get all mushy about it." She smirked and punched her companion hard on the shoulder, sending her off balance.

"Ow! Hey!" Suki grinned as she pretended to make a big deal of being hurt – now that's the Toph she knew. "So… where are we headed?"

"There's a pretty big chamber at the end of this path."

"Another dead end?"

"I don't think so. This one's _huge_, and it's pretty ordered in there. I'd bet anything we're onto something."

"That's a sucker's bet, I think." They had been in the tunnels now for hours, and there had been a lot of "onto somethings" that turned out to be some caved in room or even a restroom or two. Suki was less than excited about another one.

"If you say so. If I win, you better pay up, though."

"Fine by me. Let's go!_"_

_...Meanwhile, Back With The Avatar..._

The tunnel had been somewhat longer than they expected. It took them twenty minutes of walking to reach what the markings were pointing towards – a mostly silent trek interspersed with "a ha!"s and "we're on the right track!" from Aang, which at least told them they were making progress. In any case, it was a wonderful change of pace when they finally came across something. Unfortunately, the moment died quickly when the something they found turned out to be an obstacle in their way.

An enormous iron wall, to be precise, standing in their way and immovable.

"Aw, man." Ty Lee whined. "After all of that walking we did! This is just our luck."

"The cultists must have some way of opening this." Chon said calmly as he examined the texture of the wall.

"Fat lot of good that does us!" she whined right back, "I don't know if you've noticed, but we're not cultists. We have no way to get past this!"

"The monks used to say 'there's no chasm you can't cross with enough knowledge under your wings.' Or something. Give or take."

"Ooh, deep."

Aang spared her a brief glare. "What I'm saying is, every problem has a solution. Man, am I glad I've been learning metalbending from Toph."

Chon turned to Aang so fast he could've sworn he heard his neck crack a little. "You can metalbend?"

Aang blushed slightly. "Well… yeah… I'm not perfect at it. It takes a special way of looking at Earthbending, and I don't think anyone will ever be as amazing at it as Toph is."

"How so?"

"Well, you have to have a certain state of mind. Most earthbenders, heck most benders in general, think of their skills as trying to _control_ the elements. Toph sees things differently – her style is all about immersing yourself with the earth, become one with it, sensing everything about it, and moving it as an extension of yourself. She's been doing it her whole life, it's second nature." Chon nodded slowly, deep in thought.

Aang, meanwhile, moved into Earthbending stance, feeling through the earth as he knw to do even as he continued to explain how. "To metalbend, you aren't quite bending the metal yourself, but at the same time you are – metal is earth, but refined earth. To bend it, you must feel for those little imperfections, the roots that tie the metal to the ground it came from, and bend those."

At this, he found the parts of the wall he needed to hit and moved into position. "Toph has a ton of dexterity with it – she can do anything with even the tiniest piece of metal, I've seen her. Me, I'm far from making figurines, I prefer more force." Emphasizing the last word with a grunt, he pushed with all his bending strength against the wall. It caved in on itself and fell back onto the ground, and with another movement Aang crunched it into a ball and flung it to the side of the tunnel.

Ty Lee cheered. Chon, on the other hand, seemed almost speechless. "Amazing," he stammered. "Simply amazing. Unlike anything I've ever seen."

"Heh, well," Aang was quickly reddening again, "like I said it's only the tip of the iceberg. How about we check out what's in there." With an energy born from his still youthful spirit he flew ahead into the darkness without them.

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Ty Lee gave a mock salute and followed him forward. A few seconds later she turned back, grabbed Chon (who was still staring at the door in utter shock) and dragged him along with them. "Whatever they had to hide behind that door, I'll be it's real important," she shouted ahead with the assumption that Aang was not out of earshot – he was too far away to see.

Luckily, she and Chon ran into him before long. Literally, as he had stopped short in the middle of their path. Thanks to her acrobat's grace, Ty Lee didn't even lose her balance, though Chon fell out of her hands and to the floor with a thud. He quickly recovered and sent his two oblivious partners an icy look, but before either he or Ty Lee could say anything Aang spoke.

"You would think so, wouldn't you?" He gestured to the area around them. They had strolled into a mid-sized room – perhaps the size of two or three of their bedrooms back at the palace. The walls were adorned with patterned symbols as well as the floor, which featured a large unifying symbol engraved on stone tile. The room was surprisingly devoid of dust, as though it was intentionally kept painstakingly tidier than the rest of the complex, and several of the symbols were lined with what looked like gold and silver.

But, most importantly, the room was completely empty.

"Aw, man!" Ty Lee said for the second time in five minutes. "Another dead end."

"Looks that way."

"Very interesting…" Chon knelt on one knee, inspecting the floor. "There's grooves all over the floor here, maybe from bedding. Could be we've stumbled upon Ozai's private quarters." He scratched his hair, which was one of his favorite ways to show he was deep in thought. "Seems someone came back after the attack and recovered everything that was in here."

"I wonder why," Aang replied sarcastically. "Great. So they've been here already. What else could they have taken from right under our noses?"

"So what are we going to do know? I…" She turned to Aang, who suddenly looked very distracted. "Hey, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Aang said after a moment, "But I just sensed a tremor through the earth. I think they've found something. Either that, or something found them."

"Well then, what're we waiting for?" Ty Lee said impatiently. "Let's go!"

And with a round of nods and a kicking of their heels, the three of them hurried back towards the fork in the road, leaving the elegant room completely empty.

* * *

><p>"Azula?"<p>

Zuko could hardly believe his eyes, but there leering in front of him was a form he thought he would never see again. "You… you're alive?" He looked her up and down, more in shock than anything else. She looked outlandish – she was dressed in regally purple robes, was wearing some kind of pasty makeup, and her hair had somehow been dyed green. But most unnerving was the way she carried herself – something was… different about her. Something that put Zuko on edge.

"Surprised to see me?" she said with what he knew to be mock sweetness. "I guess you would be shocked to see someone you left to die."

Zuko tensed, putting himself into a ready position just in case this turned ugly. He spared a moment to look around him: Iroh had not risen from his seat, but looked ready to do so at a moments notice, as did Mai who was looking around, no doubt trying to find the best way to sneak around the former princess. Looking at the audience, he saw they were all right to be tense, this was obviously about to explode into something worse. Though several audience members in the back were not sure what was going on, the ones in the front were clearly having realization dawn on them, and several of the nobles on stage were attempting to inch their way out of their seats. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Katara and Sokka pushing Jin behind them while clearly preparing to leap onstage to join him – he gave them a brief gesture for them to stay put and turned all his attention onto his sister.

"I couldn't save you in time. I had no choice," he said shortly his eyes never leaving her face. She smirked at his seriousness.

"Yes, yes…" she said flippantly, even waving her hand in dismissal. "I'm sure you feel you didn't. Whatever. Point is, I'm here now. An amazing twist, isn't it?"

Zuko's eyes narrowed. She wasn't about to fool him by being casual. "And why _are_ you here, Azula?"

"What, did you honestly think I'd skip my big brother's birthday bash? I wouldn't miss this for the world!"

"I see…" If even possible, his eyes narrowed further. "I don't know what you're planning, but-"

"Planning?" She said innocently, or as innocently as she could act, anyways. "What makes you think this isn't just a social visit between loving siblings."

Zuko almost laughed. "Please, I know you Azula."

She smiled. Not a smirk, but a wide, genuine smile. Again Zuko had the feeling that something was seriously off about her. Too off. "Yes, well I guess you're getting wise to my tricks by now, aren't you? Took you long enough." Her smile turned into a leer, "I'll just have to think up some new ones. Anyways, yes I do have a few gifts in store for your big day. Oh, don't look so tense, I'm not here to kill anyone. Well, actually maybe I am, but just a few," someone in the audience gasped, "and I'm sure it's not anyone the world will miss. _You_ might, though."

Zuko noticed off to the side a few armored figures approaching the stage from behind. "I don't think so. Let's see what the guards have to say about your 'gifts.'"

"Ooh, let's!" every syllable she spoke alternated between sarcasm and sincere humor, and as a result it was even difficult to get a handle on her than usual. "The more the merrier, I think."

She turned and looked with clear amusement, not apprehension or even a hint of tense readiness, at the guards coming towards them from behind the stage, and with an intuition born from years of experience Zuko was immediately struck with the notion that something was wrong. He turned to his uncle, who shared a look with him – evidently he had come to the same conclusion. Before anything else could surprise he turned away from his sister and ran towards the Earth King, while his uncle got up from his seat and did the same. Their intuition proved correct, for the guards who came onto the stage made no motion to detain Azula. Instead, they moved to pin any of the nobles who had not already run into their seats.

There was a scream from the audience, and Zuko could tell the crowd was finally starting to panic. He briefly wondered if some of the traitorous guards were making through the audience - if so, he would deal with that later. He had enemies up here to worry about.

One such guard beat them to the Earth King and stood there ready to head them off. However, he proved to be grossly outmatched – between a flaming kick to the face from Zuko and a paralyzing body shot from Iroh he crumpled to the floor in pain. Before any of the others could overpower them, they quickly grabbed the Earth King in unison about his arms, pulled him out of his seat, and dragged him to the edge of the stage.

"Sorry, your majesty." He apologized to the flustered and confused monarch. "I hope this doesn't taint your opinion of your stay." With a single heave they tossed the man off the stage into the tumultuous crowd, and the waiting arms of Sokka and Katara.

"Get the Earth King out of here! Now!" he ordered. Behind him, Iroh did his best to hold off the remaining guards onstage.

"We won't leave you here!" Katara demanded, Sokka did not speak but his eyes clearly showed he agreed.

"The Earth King is more important! Get him and everyone else out of here! Make sure the whole complex is secure from the outside – get all the entrances, all the walls, even get the tea shop down the block if you have to! Just go!"

Very reluctantly his friends nodded and turned towards the exit, pulling Jin and the Earth King along with them. He allowed himself a small sigh of relief as they disappeared into the mass of people. With the most important person safe, he allowed himself a moment to survey the situation. It was pandemonium. People were running in droves towards the entrances, meanwhile there were just over a dozen renegade guards – most of which were posted at the entrances. Apparently they were exhausting most of their effort keeping the real guards out, and less towards keeping the audience in. Good. Looking over the crowd, he noticed with no surprise at all that Ibara had hopped offstage while no one was looking and was now calmly making his way towards the exit, looking confused but not displeased. Zuko wasn't sure how to feel about it, but at least there was one less hostage.

In comparison, the situation in the crowd was much better than the situation onstage. He turned back to his uncle just in time to see one of the guards give him a particularly painful looking punch to the stomach and force him back down into his seat.

"UNCLE!" Zuko shouted. Everything turned to concern in a moment – Iroh was not as young and hardy as he used to be after all – but to his relief his uncle gave him a pained but stable gesture.

"I am… alright… Zuko… stay focused…" He nodded his head towards the rest of the stage, where four armored guards stood with weapons drawn ready to take him down, as well as the one they had knocked down earlier who was gingerly picking himself up.

Azula, on the other hand, hadn't moved an inch the whole time – she still stood in the same spot, smiling at him with victory clearly outlined on her features.

"Surprise!" she cheered. "How do you like it? We borrowed the outfits from a few guards around the city. I was happy to take them, after all they didn't need them any more." Zuko noted in the back of his mind that the head of the city guard had reported around a dozen officers missing in the past few weeks. He wasn't sure the man would be happy to know that the mystery was now solved.

"You don't need to hurt anyone else, Azula. You have me. I'm who you want, aren't I?"

"Well, yes. Definitely. The end goal of this whole game is probably to kill you somehow, but not in the way you're thinking, I'd bet. Not for the same reasons."

A terrified councilor on the far end of the stage stood up, with the tone of someone trying to take control of the situation. "Well in that case you can let us go – we're not important to you, we don't need to be here!" Zuko gritted his teeth resisted the urge to smack his temple. This would not end well.

He was right, Azula rolled her eyes and in an eye's blink turned and fired a bolt of blue flame at the poor man, setting him ablaze. He fell back over his chair and onto the ground with a shout as he desperate tried to get the flames out.

"Sit down, I'm not finished talking," Azula snapped. "And I assure you, you're all… well, you're not important, but I plan on giving you all some of my attention regardless." The man continued to scream, and her expression grew flat. The pointed to two of the false guards on stage, "oh, stomp on him a bit and put him out, would you? I'm trying to make a speech." The two nodded and made towards the reeling man. Azula turned back to her brother. "Now… where was I?"

_Keep her talking…_ "You were saying you had reasons I didn't know about. So enlighten me, then."

"Thought you'd never ask," she smirked again and made a show of straightening herself up for a speech. "You see, you were right back on that island. Totally right. About me, about father, about everything." Zuko raised an eyebrow. This would be interesting. "I _was_ pathetic. I'll happily admit that. My whole life was a sham, a joke, a nothing. _I_ was a nothing. And I lived my whole life trying to hide from it, and what happened? It all blew up in my face. Literally! Hah!"

Zuko formed a pit in his stomach. However lofty she seemed, Azula was never one to shrug off an insult like that, let alone agree with it. What was her deal? "Is that why you're wearing that crazy makeup?"

"Makeup? You think this is- heh. Hahaha!" she doubled over in hysterical laughter. The few audience members that hadn't escaped yet froze and turned back to the stage in surprise and fear. It took her a full minute to regain her composure. "Heh no, brother mine. This isn't makeup. You see, you don't nearly drown in boiling, burning, searing hot mystical chemicals without a little disfigurement." Everyone still on stage looked absolutely horrified - Iroh, Mai and Zuko most of all - which only seemed to amuse Azula more. "But I figured it fit the new me."

"The new you?" Zuko cocked his head in suspicious confusion.

"Yes. I've decided that I really shouldn't be the only one to benefit from my little revelation. Oh, no. No indeed. I plan to show everyone just how meaningless _their_ lives are. Just how hilariously, horribly off kilter the world can be. People like I was, people like father, random people, everyone! Like you, for instance. Especially you. You try so hard to fix a world that's so wonderfully broken, but it's really all in vain. I'm going to have a lot of fun tearing down your pitiful attempts at redemption and reform one at a time. Or maybe one day I'll just burn you alive." At this point, Zuko was shaking. This was worse than he originally thought. This wasn't the old Azula back for revenge, this was something new. Something maybe even worse. "But first," she continued. "But it's your birthday, so I think I'll spread some cheer instead. You don't mind, do you?" Her eyes danced as she glanced at Zuko, who was the only one standing but was still just as trapped.

"What kind of 'cheer?'" Zuko said angrily. She ignored him. Instead, she walked along the stage, looking at each of the nobles and dignitaries in turn. Zuko took the opportunity to glance at their captors – the rest of her gang were busy trying to keep the real city guards out, and he might be able to take the five mooks she had with her on stage on, or maybe free some of the allies he knew she had with her. It was worth a shot – at the very least he was beginning to form a plan.

And then she stopped on Mai.

"Mai!" she squealed, as though she had no idea the girl would be there. That mocking tone, however, was naturally still there. "My old friend, how've you been?"

Mai scowled at her and didn't respond.

"See, this is what I was talking about," she looked around the nearly empty theatre with mock irritation. "Not enough enjoyment in your meaningless little lives. Mai, for your whole existence you've been nothing but glum faces and emotionless posturing." She gestured for one of the guards to grab Mai and bring her to the center of the stage, ignoring the impassioned "MAI" that came from Zuko's direction. "Always so 'above it all.'" She continued. "Hmph. Back when you were working with me I remember always thinking 'what died and crawled up her behind to make her so darn uptight.' You need to makeover that sour face, and I'll be happy to help."

To Zuko's horror, Azula formed a small but strong flame in her fist, the same kind architects and builders would often use to weld metal, and she advanced towards Mai, who had no conceivable way of escaping the guard's grasp. "Now, you'll have to excuse how crude this way tends to be. I swear I'm looking into something more elegant, but this will do the job just as well." Mai did not fight against her captor – she knew it would make no use – but she glared hatefully and silently at her former friend. Zuko hoped she had a plan for a last minute escape, because as it is there was no way out of this situation as it was without one of them being seriously hurt or worse. Azula laughed evilly.

"I hope you enjoy your makeover, I know I will. Let's put a smile on that face…"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> And there you have it. I've been experimenting with different ways to break up the story. This time, the "meanwhile" bits are for quick transitions, while the lines are for larger ones. If that makes any sense.

One thing that I realized to my horror as I was writing this: I have no idea how to write Ty Lee. She wasn't one of the characters I really paid attention to, and most of the episodes she's in were not among my favorites. That said, I gave it the good ol' college try. I hope I didn't totally mess her up.

As for Toph and Suki - enjoy that scene, because that's about as blatant as I'm going to get with it. If by now you don't get what's bothering Toph, then I can't help ya - that's one of at least three different issues with her, and I'm not going to expend undue time totally detailing any of them. As for their characters, well, that's the way I see that sort of thing going. A distressing number of writers like to derail Suki in that sort of situation, make her cold or even cruel. Me, I figure Suki's perceptive enough to realize what the deal is with Toph while being compassionate enough to understand. On the flipside, I see Toph as being the sort of person who would act that way about it, but also be the kind of person who was disappointed in herself for letting herself act that way at the same time. But all in all, they're still friends. Good friends.

And here we have officially revealed, Azula as The Joker. You all, of course, saw this coming. The original Wolfbatman stuff that I drew the inspiration for this from was made around the time of The Dark Knight, and as a result their Jo-zula is based visually off of Heath Ledger's Joker. Here, I based her visually off of the comics' Joker instead, with massive skin-bleaching and hair-dieing disfigurement, and no glasgow smile.

As a final word, Merry Christmas (I hope this makes an adequate present), and Happy Umoja should you be celebrating Kwanzaa this year. The next chapter will be along by New Years!


	10. No Laughing Matter: Part 3

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of this, you already know.

* * *

><p><strong>No Laughing Matter: Part 3<strong>

Katara and Sokka had much less trouble escaping the audience hall than they were expecting. Granted, the stampeding mob of people trying to get out all at once was dangerous, but it quickly became obvious that however strong and vicious Azula's cronies were they weren't particularly bright. Azula apparently wanted most of the crowd to leave, but it also Azula made sure that the competent ones were on the stage with her. They were sure they were both prime targets - to be captured, not let by – but the mooks at the doors were too busy threatening the crowd into running away faster to notice them. They were somehow able to slip by easily despite both of them being held back practically carrying their companions. Jin had for some reason totally frozen once everything went into a panic so Katara had to literally drag her out, while Sokka led the Earth King, who was only slightly more used to dealing with a crisis and what's more was wearing bright, regal attire that any capable person should have recognized, but went almost completely unnoticed.

Not that they were complaining, mind you.

As they hit the door when one of them finally connected the Earth King's attire to the man he was supposed to capture, but by that time it was far too late to stop them from leaving. He did try to catch them regardless, but he didn't get far before Katara water whipped him around the shins and dropped him to the ground. In the time it took for him to get to his feet they were long gone.

When they left, however, it became clear that as dim as these minions were they did have some sense in the way they were using the fleeing crowd to their advantage. Sokka and Katara suspected Azula had given them specific instructions: letting the crowd just charge out in the panic was a stroke of genius. The real city guard, or at least a group of soldiers they hoped were the real city guard, were at a loss to charge in without hurting the massive mob of innocent civilians, to say nothing of being swept away by them, and once one exit was empty of cover they quickly bottlenecked it, effectively stopping an effective raid.

As a result of the deadlock, in the meantime many of the real guards instead spent their time helping civilians rather than trying to get in. Once the four of them were clear a large group of them came up to them almost right away and started tending to the Earth King, checking to see if he was hurt and almost entirely ignoring his two rescuers – not that they blamed them. As the soldiers carted him off to what they hoped was the safety of the palace the Earth King turned back and nodded gratefully to them, leaving Sokka and Katara to breathe a sigh of relief and wonder what to do, while Jin stood off to the side silent and pale faced.

"We have to go back and help." Katara panted heavily, but her words were just as determined as ever.

"You're right, but how? These guys are surprisingly organized. We can't get in through the entrances without sacrificing way more soldiers than we should."

Katara took a deep breath to finally shake off her panting. "What about the wall. We could climb over and attack."

Sokka rubbed his chin in thought, while Katara checked over a hyperventilating Jin to calm her down and make sure she wasn't hurt. "That could work… but not probably not too well. I'll bet most of those guys are firebenders, and they'll be watching the walls. Once our heads peek over we'll be sitting turtle-ducks. Plus, you can conjure up some waterbending whenever you want, but I don't have any weapons, remember? And I don't think any of these soldiers will spare them."

"What do you suggest then?" Katara turned her head to her brother while still trying to stop Jin from panicking. She patted Jin calmingly on the back, and the girl slowly started to breathe easier.

"Well… climbing over an unnoticed spot in the wall would work, but those soldiers could probably only get one or two guys over, and the way they barrel around with that heavy armor they'd probably get caught right away. We need, well… us… but maybe a little sneakier. Plus, I need some weapons… Hmm…"

Katara groaned. "You're not thinking of using that armor again…" she reduced her voice to a whisper and spoke close to Sokka's face, so that not even Jin could hear them.

"Why not? It worked last time. And remember, if I showed up in the suit in situations like this it would only help Zuko's plan for the whole thing."

"It's halfway across the city, in case you've forgot. Unless you guys stashed it somewhere nearby

"You know… maybe Zuko did do that!" Sokka's eyes lit up with a sudden idea. Katara's eyebrows merely raised.

"What do you mean?"

"Remember what he told us before he left? Secure everything… but then he mentioned the tea shop down the block."

"You think he hid the suit in a tea shop? Come on, Sokka."

"No, I'm serious. The guy who runs the place is an old friend of his uncles. They're all very close – Zuko's always trying to get me to join him for tea there. He invited us all tat one time, remember? Iroh's known the guy for decades, they fought side by side in the war. If there's any place around here he would trust to hide the suit just in case, it'd be there."

"Ok, fine. If you say so. We check the tea place _quickly_ and then we get in there and get rid of Azula. I really don't like leaving them all in there alone with her any longer than they have to."

"Well, Zuko, Iroh and Mai aren't _totally_ useless. We at least can count on them slowing Azula up. But… Katara, I think one of us though head back with the Earth King?"

"By 'one of us' you mean me, right?" Katara glared at him. "No. No way. Absolutely not. I'm not leaving all of you here when you need me. We don't even know if she wants the Earth King – it looked like she just wanted Zuko."

"We can't take that chance. He's got guards with him, but Azula's… crafty. Remember what happened last time she got involved with him. One of us can take this alone – it'll be hard, but we've got three allies in there already. But if Azula's got a force attacking the Earth King you're more powerful than I am, especially when it comes to attacking lots of people at once. It's got to be you."

Katara remained silent, then squeezed out an extremely reluctant sounding "I hate to say this, but that makes sense. Too much sense. Fine, but you better-"

"I'll be careful. And I'll get them out in one piece. I'll take Jin with me to the shop," he that girl looks like she could use a cup of tea right now." He gestured at said girl, who was quietly watching everything around them, to follow him. She gave a start and hurried up next to them, shuddering slightly. "Come on," he said to her, "we're going to try and fight, but I think you ought to get somewhere safe first." The nodded mutely but deliberately.

"All right," Katara said, "let's go. The longer wait the more likely Azula could do something…" she trailed off, unable to finish the thought. "Sokka, you're plenty powerful yourself you know. Make sure you don't get yourself killed."

Sokka smiled and turned away, calling over his shoulder. "I will. You be careful too." A similarly shouted "I will!" came back to him, but he didn't turn back. He and Jin ran towards the tea shop as fast as they could. There was a lot of truth to what Katara said, who knows what Azula could be up to?

As they ran Sokka turned to the girl alongside him, who looked much calmer. She was no longer breathing heavy, but she still looked a bit pale. "Are you alright? You kind of freaked out back there."

"I… yeah. I'm fine," her voice was a bit quavery, but sounded stronger that it would've been a few minutes ago. "It's just… I was a refugee, you know? When everything went nuts and those soldiers started tearing the place apart, I just felt so terrified, I can't explain it. I guess it brought back some bad memories."

"Don't I know it," Sokka grumbled, "why can't this sort of thing just be over already, you know what I mean? It seems like every time we get some peace and quiet there's somebody trying to turn us into worm food – can't they let us have a vacation?"

Jin laughed. "I'm glad I don't have the life of constant fighting you guys have," she said as they reached the tea shop's door, "I don't think I could take it."

"Well, aren't you the lucky civilian," Sokka grumbled, but with a smile nevertheless.

When they entered the door Jin went to take a seat, while Sokka rushed up to the owner. "Please, tell me Zuko left something in here for me! A fire bucket, some really sharp silverware, anything! I'll take it!"

"You're in luck, Mister Sokka…" the elderly man gave a grin like crinkled paper, "for there is something waiting for you in the basement. Prince Zuko said it may very well come in handy today, and it appears his intuition was spot on…"

* * *

><p>"Suki, Toph, are you alright? We… whoa…"<p>

Aang and company rushed into the area Toph and Suki alerted them from fearing the worst, but what they saw upon entering was far from negative.

First off, the chamber was huge, at least fifteen times as big as the ornate room they had just left, with multiple layers even. It was wide and had two levels separated by ladders. On the other end there was another tunnel leading out, but that was far from their attention, because secondly and most importantly the room was covered inch to inch with writing of all kinds: symbols, pictures, letters and everything in between. Some of it was indecipherable, but all of it seemed to emanate with some kind of purpose.

Aang tried to make sense out of all of it, but the sheer size of it impressed him. "They're… they're…"

He was interrupted by Suki approaching them from the side. "As far as we can tell it's history, but most of the older stuff we can't make hide or hair of. We think they were in a rush cleaning the place out. This must've been some kind of library, but all the books are gone. They didn't get around to wiping all of this away, but some of the walls are defaced or wiped away. We're betting that's the most important stuff"

"I… wow…" Aang said breathlessly.

"How lucky for us that they were… sloppy…" Chon noted evenly.

"This has got to be the biggest library I've ever seen," Aang said, finally able to form full sentences. "Besides Wan Shi Tong's, of course."

Chon started in surprise again. "You've been to Wan Shi Tong's library? Where did-"

"Sorry, Chon," Aang cut him off with a solemn shake of his head. "I don't think I should reveal where it is to anyone. Not that anyone could reach it any more anyway."

"But…"

They were interrupted yet again by a triumphant Toph-like shout from the level below. "Guys! You have got to come check this out!"

They all rushed down the nearest ladder – except Aang who simply flew – towards where the shout came from and found Toph excitedly looking over a heavily detailed section of the wall. Looking around, they saw that this particular branch of writing stretched all the way around the room.

"What's all this stuff?" Ty Lee wondered. Toph turned to them with an excited grin – she looked like a kid in a candy store.

"I've been looking at some of this stuff, I think it's instructions! You know, like the styles behind their spiritbending! A lot of this stuff is-"

"Wait… I thought you couldn't read?" Ty Lee said tactlessly. Aang inconspicuously shoved her. "Hey!"

It said a lot about Toph's character that she seemed completely unfazed and merely rolled her eyes. "Because this stuff is engraved into the walls I can 'see' it pretty well. My parents _did_ try to teach me to read when I was growing up, for all that it's worth. I think they thought this whole blind thing would blow over someday. Hrmph. I'm not great at it, but I can understand and recognize enough of this this."

"Oh, well that explains it." Ty Lee said brightly.

Toph turned back to the wall as Aang shoved Ty Lee again. "Anyway, as I was saying, a lot of this stuff isn't just bending bending, it's… it's just crazy. A whole new level! The guys we fought in here were barely using this stuff to the fullest. Or maybe they were, but it was just so natural to them that we didn't notice."

As the only other person there who had been at the battle, Aang took it upon himself to nod grimly. The others merely listened on with resolved silence.

"A lot of this is old. Like, really old. Written in ways I don't think any of us know about. But there's also a lot of newer stuff, and notes on the older things. It's… well, this is just amazing! Just think of what we could do with this – we could use their unfair little tricks against them. They wouldn't know what hit 'em!"

Aang shuffled uncomfortably. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea…"

Toph gave him a blank glare. "You're kidding me Twinkletoes. Why not?"

Aang walked up to the wall and ran his fingers along the writing. "These arts are revolutionary. Totally alien to what we are today. I could learn a bit of spiritbending, but I'm the Avatar – it's the same way I can learn all four elements, my soul is open to it. But anyone else… anyone else trying to force these powers onto themselves would risk disrupting their natural spirit."

"Fine, let's not dive into it, but we still ought to learn a few tricks. That won't hurt anyone, except them."

"No… I don' think so. That would be even worse. To incorporate any of these into yourself you would have to have dedicated your life to the discipline of spiritbending. Without those foundations, you wouldn't be able to control it. There are some advanced firebending tricks here, some advanced waterbending, earthbending and even airbending. We might be able to learn those, but it would take a long time. Years even, if at all. They're deeply steeped in spiritbending, and it would be a really bad idea to try and learn them on the fly."

"But…"

"We should still take these." Suki stepped in the conversation to try and moderate. "We can still learn from them, even if we're not about to start trying to be spiritbenders. We _need_ to learn how these people work so we can fight them. These are the best bet we have to fighting them."

"Hey, I'm not saying we shouldn't take them and learn from them, I'm just saying…"

"Yeah, I know," Suki said. "It's too dangerous. Way too dangerous. I can't even begin to comprehend some of this stuff, though granted I'm not a bender. But hey, even if we can't learn their styles we can try to emulate them – remember how you told me Zuko's Uncle made a new firebending technique based off of waterbending?"

Aang stopped to think. "It's possible… we ought to keep that in mind. But we should still be careful."

"Yeah, whatever you say." Toph sighed.

"Now, how do we-"

"Hey!" Everyone jumped - none of them had noticed Chon leave the group to look around the chamber when the argument started. "We've got company!"

The whole group rushed to where Chon was, and from their position they could clearly see two vague figures standing in the other passageway out of the library. Chon had already entered an earthbending stance and Toph moved to join him, her mind racing. _How did they get here without me noticing?_ She thought, _was I just that distracted by that writing? Or… did they cut off my sight again._ She almost shuddered involuntarily, but stopped herself. Next to them, Aang started flying up towards the passageway, while Suki and Ty Lee drew their weapons.

"I guess that proves this is some pretty important stuff! No way are they gonna kick us out of here this time," she said with her usual cocky conviction. "But I'd love to see them try."

"I think it's too late for that." Chon said slowly. "Can't you feel it?"

Toph sensed out with her earthbending, and a moment later her eyes widened. "He's right, they've hit the tunnel with what feels like a precision tidal wave. The whole room is going to cave in!"

"What?" As if on cue the room began to tremor and shudder. Toph didn't need earthbending to sense the danger now.

"What do we do?" Ty Lee shouted.

"First, we cut them off." Chon moved swiftly and earthbended the passage between them and the figures shut.

"I'm gonna try and hold the room together," Toph strained to speak, and beads of sweat were already running down her face.

"No…" Aang put his hand on Toph's shoulder to stop her. "I'll do that. You're more precise with your earthbending than I am. Do you think you sense this whole room and copy it later?"

Toph's eyes widened, and she wasn't the only one: Suki looked surprised at the very idea, and even the usually impassive Chon sent the two of them a look. "Memorize the whole thing? Are you nuts."

"Toph, you're the most skilled earthbender I've ever met. I've seen you copy with perfect precision a whole army of figurines. You've got to do this, we need this knowledge," Aang had already started to hold the room up in Toph's place and desperation starting to enter his voice.

"Alright, I'll try." She closed her eyes and began concentrated.

"Hurry!" Aang said. Bits of the ceiling began to break off and fall onto the ground around them – it was clear that no matter what they did they were running out of time.

"You guys get out!" Aang called to Suki and Ty Lee.

"No way!" they chorused. "We're not-" They were interrupted by an enormous rock falling from the sky right on top of them – Chon managed to knock it aside at the last second.

"It's too dangerous!" Aang shouted. "You guys get to safety, I'll hold it up as long as I can!"

"No way, Twinkletoes." Toph shouted. "I know how much you love to play the hero, but we're not letting you kill yourself over this. I can't remember all of it, but I'm pretty sure I can copy a decent amount of it – now let's go!" At that, she grabbed Aang by the collar, pulled him alongside the rest of them, and with a swift movement launched them all through the air and into the tunnel they entered from. They hit the ground running and ran as far as they could away from the library, which collapsed into itself with a wave of dust and rock.

They soon doubled over in coughing fits as the dust filled the whole tunnel system, forcing Aang to use his airbending to clear up the air though it took quite a while for them to clear their lungs as well.

"Wow…" Toph quipped as soon as they were able. "Déjà vu, eh?"

There was silence for a few moments. Then Aang laughed. Then Ty Lee joined in. And before long they were all laughing uproariously.

"I can't wait to tell Sokka," Aang said as tears of humor glimmered in his eyes.

"He'll be totally jealous that we got all this action and he ended up at that boring ceremony." Toph chimed in.

Aang laughed even harder in response "I bet right now he's sitting around just wishing he could be here with us. I don't think I'll rub it in too much. Hehe!"

* * *

><p><em>At Around That Moment In The Fire Nation Capital<em>

"Don't worry, my dear friend," Azula said maniacally, as she drew the flame closer to Mai's face. "This won't hurt… me!" She laughed gleefully as she prepared to drive the flame into her captive's cheek, while Zuko desperately prepared to do something very stupid…

And then suddenly a foot came out of nowhere and struck the crazed ex-princess in the back. Both she and Mai fell to the ground apart from each other. One of the guards ran to detain Mai while another went to help his boss to her feet, though she refused. Instead eyes vindictively met that of her attacker, who she recognized as the same gray-clad warrior she had met at the island.

"How dare you!" Azula grumbled as brought herself up. She was only barely smiling. "That's no way to treat a lady."

He bent down into a combat stance in preparation for the worst – it was him against five armed guards plus an insane firebending prodigy after all, plus any number of guards in the theatre who could join in at any moment. "I don't see any lady here," he said with a lot more confidence than he should have had.

"Come now!" Azula mused. "There's no reason to insult Mai like that…"

He blinked in shock. "No, I didn't mean-" He shook his head as he realized he'd been led, but it was enough to make Azula fall into laughter again.

"That's so much fun," she grinned. "So… we meet again. 'Wolfbat-something or other, wasn't it?" His eyes narrowed, which she took as a yes. "Seems kind of ridiculous if you ask me… but then again who am I to talk." She started cackling again.

"Let's see if you find this funny." He reached to his side and pulled out a pair of heavy metal balls attached by a rope – with a few quick spins he tossed it to the side, directly at the legs of one of the guards training his sword on Zuko. The guard panicked and fell over and in the confusion Zuko stomped on his head, knocking him out. As they reacted to this, Wolfbatman turned again and threw a small bat-shaped boomerang at the guard detaining Iroh – it hit him straight on the helmet and knocked him back, and just like his nephew Iroh sprung into action. Meanwhile, Mai reached into her sleeve, pulled out a small, thin knife and plunged it into the leg of the distracted guard holding her.

The nobles and foreign dignitaries on stage took this opportunity to run offstage, much to Azula's displeasure. "Oh, poo." She whined, "don't you know how long it takes to round those up when they're panicked like that?"

"No," Wolfbatman said, "but I think I know how long it'll take to round you and your little band up, princess" He gestured to the four remaining fake guards on stage, who were now fighting a losing battle against Mai, Iroh and Zuko. Azula stared impassively at them. "I think you should give up now, if you know what's good for you."

She glared at him angrily, then smiled a particularly leering smile. "I think you should know who it is you're dealing with… first off I'm not a princess any longer. I think of myself more as a kind of humorist. And boy do I have a joke for you… heheheahahaha!" She summoned an enormous wave of blue flame and flung it at him – he barely dodged in time to avoid it and ended up on the floor. Before he could adequately recover she was already sending more attacks his way – and he couldn't dodge them all. One shot hit him in the stomach and he fell backwards, and she was leaping into the air to press her attack in an instant.

"Darn…" he growled. In an effort to break off her attack he threw another wolfbatarang at her, but she dodged over it with a burst of flame from her feet.

"Woohoo!" she shouted as she catapulted through the air. "Rocket jump! One of the best little tricks you can have, don't you agree?" She leapt behind him, but he was still trying to get to his feet. With a grin, she created another ball of flame and took careful aim. "Now, watch this… boom, headshot!"

There was no way he could move in time to dodge. He could only sit there and watch as what looked like his doom came hurtling towards him… and was blocked by a red burst of flame coming from the opposite direction. A moment later, a familiar hand reached down to help him up.

"First rule of fighting Azula." Said Zuko. "Be careful. Be on your toes, I can't do this alone."

"Whatever happened to 'there's something off about her,'" Wolfbatman said, bringing some of Sokka's usual complaining to the fore. "You know, how she was so unbalanced that she kept making mistakes?"

"I don't know… but it's like there's something different about her now. I can't explain it, it's like she's found… clarity in her madness."

"That's… not good."

"Who are you telling? I'm the one who had to deal with her before you showed up."

"How rude!" Azula interrupted, pretending to be offended. "I _am_ standing right here! I think I ought to teach you some manners. HA!" Another burst directed straight at the two of them.

"To the sides!" Zuko shouted, and the two warriors scattered, this time staying on their feet. Zuko countered with a shot at Azula's chest, while Sokka slid down aiming for her legs. She backflipped over the two to dodge and sent a ring of flame emanating from her feet for good measure, knocking Zuko back. Sokka managed to dodge the hit and returned with a strike to her gut, only to have a kick to the face in retaliation.

"You know Wolfy… can I call you Wolfy?" Azula chuckled and spit out a little bit of blood from her mouth. "You're not half bad. Here I thought Zuko and his little band of friends were the only ones with half a brain around here. Where did you find this guy, Zuko? No, don't tell me, I'll guess…"

Zuko didn't give her a response and instead stomped the ground, sending a trail of flame across the floor. Azula leapt away from it and sent a fireball back, but missed and hit one the guards Mai and Iroh were fighting.

"Whoops! Well, good thing those guys are cheap!" She dodged another wolfbatarang, but fell to the floor as a bola wrapped around one of her legs. She quickly tried to recover, but the her two opponents took the moment to rush her. She had lighted both of her hands to knock them back when the combat came to a screeching halt with the arrival of a half dozen more of her henchmen. Zuko and Wolfbatman back up for a moment, but Azula did not take the moment to gloat.

They all stared at the newcomers for a moment. In the meantime, Azula got to her feet but continued to gawk. "What are you doing here?" she asked in oddly calm confusion.

"We're here to help!" said the closest one in a gung-ho sort of voice.

"You're here to…" she smacked her face with her palm. "Please don't tell me you're that stupid!" She pointed to the other side of the theatre – her men had needed the cooperation of all of them to hold the entrance. With half of them gone, the real city guardsmen were rushing into the building. "Why would you-"

She was interrupted as Wolfbatman took the opportunity to rush forward and strike her in the chest. She fell backwards and hit the ground motionless.

He grinned at the nearest henchman. "Thanks for the opening!" The man had a moment to look distraught before receiving a kick that sent him off the stage. Meanwhile, the scene quickly turned away from Azula's favor. Mai and Iroh had finished off their guards and were preparing to take down as many more as they could – but to their credit many of the smarter ones were taking this opportunity to leave. The scene became mobbed again as the guards filtered into the stage – in the confusion Sokka turned to where he'd left Azula, only to find the spot empty.

"Wait… Azula, she's-"

"She's gone." Zuko said darkly. He and Sokka shared a significant look. "She'll be back. You should make tracks too. And thanks." The two of them nodded to each other, and Sokka turned to escape back over the wall before any of the guards could ask him any questions.

Before he left, though, he made a glance the spot where Azula escaped. A small smiley face was burned into the ground. His eyes narrowed.

"Until next time, Azula. We'll be waiting…"

* * *

><p><strong>In A Rush: <strong>Don't have time for a decent Author's Note. See you at the epilogue.


	11. No Laughing Matter: Epilogue

**Disclaimer: **My New Year's resolution is to never be accused of owning ATLA. I'm doing pretty good so far.

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><p><strong>No Laughing Matter: Epilogue<strong>

By the time Aang and company returned things had died down nicely, but both groups were surprised and worried to hear the stories of the others' hair-raising day. Zuko pulled them all into a mass debriefing and immediately started grilling for information about Ozai's complex, while Aang was too worried about what happened with Azula to focus on anything else. Meanwhile, Katara was angry with Sokka, as nothing had tried to attack or capture the Earth King and she would've preferred to have been helping to fight Azula. Toph was sour that she missed the change to, in her own words, "earthquake Azula's smug face in," while Suki was just worried Sokka might have been hurt. Sokka, meanwhile, resisted both Suki and Katara's attempts to chide him for being reckless. Chon wisely gave his two cents to Zuko and left just before the whole room erupted into a friendly yet heated argument, which Iroh would later joke made for perfect teatime entertainment.

Arguments turned to serious discussion, which turned to friendly chatting and eventually palling around between friends, and ultimately the whole debriefing shifted into a private birthday celebration for Zuko. The party was marvelous, and most importantly just what Zuko preferred – small and without much fanfare. Just his closest friends, who had the rare opportunity to see Zuko truly smile for a long period of time. They played Pai Sho, had mock bending competitions, chatted and reminisced, all sorts of fun. The Earth King and Chon even paid a visit. Before dinner, Aang did an extended toast to the new Fire Lord, which, in true Aang style, included lots of tongue-in-cheek jokes about back before Zuko changed sides. The whole thing came to a head with a spectacular dinner, during which Ty Lee tried to force Mai into an enormous cake with the idea that she should jump out of it. In the end they still had the cake, with Ty-Lee forcibly stuffed headfirst half-way into the frosting. Everybody laughed, except Ty Lee of course.

Great fun was had, but all things come to an end eventually. As the festivities were winding down Toph left the rest of the group to turn in early. As she walked down the hallways she could hear the gang talking behind her, but she resisted the urge to turn around and join them for a little more time. This was something she had to do… or at least that's what she hoped.

When she reached her room she pulled out a large slab of rock she used to practice earthbending, and broke off a piece to make into a block to stop anyone from opening her door. When she was satisfied no one would be able to interrupt her, she turned to the rest of it and took a deep breath.

Even before she fully thought about what she was going to do, she heard Aang's voice echoing through her head.

"_These arts are revolutionary. Totally alien to what we are today."_

Then Suki:

"_It's too dangerous. Way too dangerous."_

And even her own voice joined the chorus.

"_A lot of this stuff isn't just bending bending, it's… it's just crazy. A whole new level!"_

Somehow, she remembered herself being much more excited than nervous when she said those words. The meaning of what she had said suddenly struck her as a lot less appealing now.

Then finally, as if to prove her own thoughts, Aang's words returned to her again. Somehow, his warning seemed even more severe in her own brain.

"_Anyone else trying to force these powers onto themselves would risk disrupting their natural spirit."_

"_Should I be doing this?" _she thought. She just stared at the block of earth in front of her, looking completely impassive but feeling the opposite. _"What if they're all right?"_ The magnitude of everything weighed upon her even more, and her own thoughts struck her as being distinctly unwise. She could accidentally mess with her own bending, or strike herself truly blind with no way to fix herself. What she was thinking of truly was on a plane far removed from what she knew of, this could go wrong in a myriad of ways. As if to cap off everything, she would be betraying her friends' trust by doing this, the friends who trusted her when her own family did not…

But then she remembered the island, being trapped, unable to see, unable to fight back, completely at the mercy of someone else, unable to save herself or even act on her own. Having to be saved by Sokka. It was terrifying and utterly humiliating. She never wanted to feel like that again. Ever. Her friends would understand – she was only doing this to protect them, after all.

Satisfied with her own thoughts, Toph molded the piece of earth in her hand into a large, flat sheet and copied from memory the all writing from the Library of the Spiritbenders that she could remember. She had already done this earlier, at the debriefing, so when she wrote it, piece by piece, she knew she was copying it exactly as it was, or at least close enough. It only took a few minutes of painstaking earthbending, but the end result was a perfect, if miniature copy.

As she held the tablet in her hands, a small feeling of doubt entered her thoughts one last time. She ruthlessly pushed it down and started to study…

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Dun dun dun...

Told you guys I'd get it in completely before New Years. And I hope yours is happy, by the way.

Anyways, the Note I would've put last time. Basically it would've been me talking about how I'm slowly trying to balance Aang's odd kind of mature childishness and his stints of serious, sagelike wisdom. I think I've got him alright, if a bit serious. Azula's been done decently too, I think (thought the "boom, headshot" bit might've been a bit much). After reading the last chapter I think I ought to work on writing outside of dialogue.

As a last bit that applies here as well (a bit ironic after what you just read), as well as several of the stories that are to come. Something I, totally honest here, didn't realize until I put all the ideas and plans for this story together was how much focus I put on Toph. Not that that's a bad thing, but there's a lot of it, and that could be misconstrued, particularly given the thing Toph has for Sokka which I wasn't actually planning on fully developing - rather, I've been trying to simply establish that (and a few other issues) as a present aspect/trait of her characterization. This story isn't exactly about Toph (in the big picture), though she's certainly a very major player in things.

Just saying this in case people get a bit disappointed with the way I deal with her (much) further down the line, though I'm not going to remove anything I'd planned on.

There's another thing I didn't realize I was doing, but I'll talk about that next time. Speaking of which:

_Next time on Wolfbatman! _

_Don't go into the water: pirates are on the move and deadlier than ever!_ _Can the gang, down a few members and cut off from most of their defenses, manage to defeat these brigands and their bizarre new leader? Or will their very lives be forfeit?_

_Find out in _**Danger On The High Seas!** _Check it out - same Wolfbat time (give or take), same Wolfbat website!_


	12. Danger On The High Seas: Part 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar (or Batman elements). If I did, the show would likely have never gotten off the ground, given how long it takes for me to update.

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><p><strong>Danger On The High Seas: Part 1<strong>

It had been at least a month since Azula's reappearance, and Sokka was getting restless. It seemed like every night he was out in the armor searching for the insane ex-princess, only to end up breaking up some crime or another instead, and he was starting feel like he was wasting his time. Near all of his time that wasn't spent sleeping was spent doing some Wolfbatman related job or another with nothing to show for it, and to be honest the uselessness he felt was starting to grate on him. He could be spending his time taking care more important things like enjoying whatever was left of his youth, but no – wild goose chases came first.

Of course, he stubbornly refuse to consider that he'd spend the better part of the last year doing the same sort of thing anyway.

In any case no matter what it was that was so important that Zuko had to call him to a meeting, unless it was Azula's exact location he was giving his friend a piece of his mind, Fire Lord or no.

So it was with a determined intensity that he stormed through the palace, spooking several people hanging around the halls. With a stern air and the dedication of a man who wanted to get things done, he made his way up to the meeting room, threw open the doors affixed the Fire Lord with his fiercest glare.

"ZUKO!" He thundered. The boy in question was looking the other way, apparently deep in thought as he waited for Sokka to show up. At the sound of his own name, Zuko turned around and smiled broadly.

"Oh, Sokka! Good to see you made it. How do you feel about going to a play?"

Sokka had not been expecting that. He faltered for a moment before trying to figure out if he had heard correctly. "A-a play?" He stammered, his whole angry mojo completely deflated.

"Yep," Zuko smiled, intentionally giving no indication that he noticed how much he had just thrown off his friend.

"Er… this isn't another one about us, is it? Like that Ember Island thing, because if it is…"

"Oh don't worry, it's not." Zuko gave him a reassuring wave of the hand. "Well, it _is_ and isn't. It _is_ on Ember Island, but it's not actually the Ember Island Players. I made sure that group took a break while they worked on some decent writing. This is a different play. It's about what happened but you can rest easy, because you're not in it."

"Hey! I'm not?" Sokka shouted, changing gears entirely, "what a rip! Who is it about then?"

"Me." Zuko said solemnly. He pulled out a piece of paper and started to read. "''The Agni Kai of Destiny,' starring up and coming actress Mai Da-Li as Fire Lady Azula, chronicles the days of the ex-Princess' brief but tyrannical reign and Fire Lord Zuko's glorious triumph over…' etcetera etcetera." Zuko rolled his eyes and stuffed the paper back into his pocket.

"Hmm…" Sokka smirked teasingly, "now there's a benefit to being in charge – people write propaganda about _you_ for a change."

"Whatever…" Zuko grumbled – obviously having people write epics about him wasn't something he particularly cared for. "But still, it got good reviews."

"Er… yeah, okay." Sokka scratched his head. He got the message, but he was still confused about the why. "If you say so. But what's with the sudden urge to take in the theatre? Mai dragging you along?"

Zuko snorted at the very thought. "As if Mai would want to go see that any more than I would. The Earth King wanted to go see a show. As Fire Lord and future Fire Lady, it's customary for myself and Mai to escort and join him. And you're one of my best friends so I figured you'd want to come along…" Sokka raised an eyebrow – while the "friends" part was true, that last bit was definitely a lie. When he saw Sokka didn't buy it, Zuko quickly added: "and I need a favor."

"I'm guessing this wouldn't just be a trip to the show, would it?"

"Well… no." Zuko admitted. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, as if apologetic before he even said anything. "It's actually kind of complicated."

Sokka tapped his foot impatiently. "I'm listening…"

"Well, it has to do with Aang and Katara being away, and why."

Sokka nodded. The situation was a bit troubling. A few days prior, the Water Tribe siblings received a letter from their father warning them not to travel home without support for a while. Apparently, when the war ended pirates of all kinds decided to try and claim the shell shocked world as their oyster: bandit attacks began to ravage the countryside of the Earth Kingdom, and now in Hakoda's letter they learned that pirates were starting to plague their home as well. It had gotten to the point where nobody even dared go out to fish lest they be kidnapped and ransomed off. It was sheer luck that Hakoda's messenger was able to get through the dangerous waters at all, and the man was in no hurry to go back.

Though in his letter their father said it was no problem he couldn't handle, Sokka and Katara immediately made plans with everyone to go help out. They had all wanted to go, however with Azula on the loose they did not want to all leave, just in case, and in the end it was decided that Katara and Aang would go aid Hakoda in driving off the pirates while Sokka, Suki and Toph would begrudgingly stay behind. Sokka knew that between Aang, Hakoda and Katara the pirates would stand little to no change so he was relatively fine with the choice, but it was still getting a little lonely without his little sister to bug (or vice versa).

He wondered if that was part of why he was feeling so tense about not finding Azula – after all, staying here was starting to feel like a waste – but he shrugged it off. Now was not the time.

"Well," Zuko continued, "it appears that the Southern Water Tribe isn't the only place being hit. Almost immediately after Aang and Katara left, accounts of piracy started to skyrocket off the coast of the capital. It seems… strange."

"And you don't think it's a coincidence, do you? You think we're getting double teamed."

"At the very least, I think something's up." Zuko said wearily. "Especially as the pirates seem particularly interested in royal convoys."

Sokka thought it over with a rub of his chin "Hmm… definitely sounds shady. So what do you plan to do."

"Well, I was going to assess the situation and maybe sent the navy in to deal with them, but then the Earth King gave his request to go to Ember Island. That's when a idea hit me – these pirates are up to something, and simply quashing them won't tell me what's going on. So I thought of a plan – I'll go on ahead of the Earth King in my own ship and make myself a target, so I can confront the pirates myself. I'm a fairly important target, I think-" he chuckled under his breath – "so I'm sure they'll sent someone important to take me on. Someone who can give me the information I need."

Sokka could hardly believe his ears – this was the most reckless plan he had ever heard… well, maybe not the_ most_ reckless, but still up there with some of the crazy schemes the gang had tried while on the run. "You're fine with walking right into a trap?"

"They're pirates," Zuko said, waving off his concerns again. "Not exactly a well organized organization. Plus, if all goes right I'll have backup… my own personal guard hidden in my ship, and your help if you don't mind."

"Mine? Don't you mean Wolfbatman's?"

"Yes and no," Zuko said awkwardly. "Both… kind of. But only if the situation goes sour."

Sokka's eyes narrowed slightly. "Sounds like another convoluted mess. You don't honestly just expect me to go along with this crazy plan just like that, do you? What if I said 'hey, this is nuts and you're nuts for thinking of it?'"

"Well, I suppose you could let me walk into the trap alone," Zuko said nonchalantly. "Sure, I could die and the kingdom could be thrown into chaos again, but hey whatever works for you."

There was a brief silence as Sokka glowered. "You jerk…"

Zuko smirked. "Sorry, runs in the family."

"Whatever," Sokka mumbled. "I guess I'll do it. At least then I'll be doing something actually important in that armor."

Zuko raised an eyebrow. "Is that what's been bothering you?" His look of concern met the slightly shocked look of his comrade. "Don't give me that look, when you walked in here you looked like you were about to fight someone. What's up?"

"Sorry about that," Sokka turned red slightly, but straightened up to get what he came to say off his chest. "It's just, I'm starting to feel apprehensive about this whole 'Wolfbatman' thing."

"You are?" This threw Zuko slightly, as his friend had given little indication he felt that way. "But you've been constantly telling Katara-"

Sokka cut him off, giving Zuko the wave of dismissal for once. "Sure, I tell Katara it needs to be done and I'm happy to do it and yadda yadda because otherwise she'd worry and get on my case about it. But to be honest, I'm feeling like I'm taking up this whole new identity when I don't need to. I'm giving up a lot for Wolfbatman, Zuko, but there's a lot I can do as Sokka and I don't want to lose that. When I'm spending my time as Wolfbatman doing nothing but scouring an empty city and staying out of the way, I feel like I'm wasting my potential – with Wolfbatman in play it just drills in that as Sokka I'm cut off from making an impact."

"I see…" Zuko crossed his arms quietly, but remained impassive enough that Sokka could see this did not surprise him. "Yeah, I figured if you would ever have any problem with Wolfbatman, it'd be this. I guess I have been asking you do don the suit a lot, but that's just because the Azula situation is… well, it's important to me. You know that. But I realized a long time ago that you might think of me as asking you to totally change your goals and your life for what I needed and to be honest I could never think of a good counter to that."

Zuko's impassive face turned apologetic. As Sokka opened his mouth he winced, expecting a rejection. "Don't worry, I'm not giving my life," Sokka said to Zuko's surprise. "But you're right – my goals are all revolving around Wolfbatman right now, and it bugs me that we're not getting anything out of it. I believe that what we're doing needs to be done, but it's starting to feel like a waste. I need to _do_ something. Which is why I'll help with this pirate thing. But I hope you know that outside the suit I'm going to be doing things Sokka style, too. Wolfbatman isn't going to stop me from doing what I need to do."

"Good." Zuko smiled – this conversation had almost taken a bad turn, and it was good to see it go better than he expected. "So, then. We're ready?"

Sokka sighed. "I guess…"

"Ok. Here's the plan…"

* * *

><p>Sokka returned to the gang's temporary residence in the visiting nobles' section of the palace a couple of hours later feeling weary but strangely determined. As he entered he found Toph and Suki relaxing in the lounge area. The two of them were the only ones with mostly nothing to do – Jin was taking tours of the city, Iroh was working closely with Zuko – or as closely as he could – and Aang and Katara were of course out of town. With Sokka spending much of his time with Wolfbatman-related activities, the two of them were by themselves much of the time.<p>

And bored, by the looks of it.

"Hey girls, sorry I'm late."

"Don't worry about it, Sokka." Suki yawned. "We were expecting it."

Toph grinned sardonically. "Yeah, don't let the fact that we've been waiting all morning bother you at all. Nope."

Even though he knew they probably meant it when they said not to worry and that Toph was likely just joking with him, Sokka had the strength of character to feel guilty and sheepish. "Oh!" He gasped. "Sorry. How about I treat you two to breakfast pronto."

A blatant roll of the eyes joined Toph's grin. "Yeah, because our lives revolve around the almighty Sokka so much that we totally didn't go get something to eat when we got hungry, because we just _had_ to wait for you to get here."

"Sorry Sokka," Suki giggled. "We ate a while ago."

Sokka rubbed the back of his head, red with embarrassment. "Heh… well I guess I'll have to make it up to you some other way…"

"You can start by telling us what Zuko wanted. Was it Wolfbatman related?"

"Was it Wolfbatman related? Tell me it was something exciting! You've been doing so little I can almost see you dying from boredom…"

Unlike Katara, Toph and Suki had little problem with the Wolfbatman idea. Suki shared Katara's protectiveness and concern, but her warrior's mindset could understand the tactical necessity for such a thing. Toph likewise felt it wasn't that much of an issue so long as Sokka was good enough to not screw up – which Sokka figured meant she actually had some faith in his abilities. Who knew?

"Well, maybe. It won't come to that if everything goes well, but it might… er…" Sokka was a bit of a loss to explain. It wasn't that the plan was _too_ complicated, but it involved more than a few elements. He opted to start the same way Zuko did. "In related news, how would you guys like to go to a play?"

His non-sequitur had the same flooring effect that Zuko's had.

"What?"

"Uhh…"

"Wait a minute," Toph gave Sokka a very shrewd look. "This isn't like that other time with those nutty Ember Island guys, is it?"

"Zuko tells me absolutely not. What a relief"

"Aww…" Toph pouted. "That was hilarious…"

Suki, who shared Sokka's relief but wanted to get to the point, pressed on. "But what does that have to do with maybe-involving-Wolfbatman?"

Before speaking, Sokka made and exaggerated show of looking around to make sure no one was listening. After assuring himself that no one would be spying on them, he turned back solemnly. "The Water Tribe areas aren't the only places that have seen more pirate presence. Almost as soon as Aang and Katara left, the waters around the Fire Nation began to be plagued with pirates more and more, and get this – they're mainly attacking political or royal vessels."

Toph and Suki sported identical troubled looks. They shared a knowing glance, then turned back to Sokka and said in unison: "Trap."

"Definitely."

"Did they really think Zuko would fall for something like that?" Toph scoffed.

"Zuko didn't, but that's because he's the only one besides us who knows the full situation. But the Earth King's got a sudden desire to take in the theater, which means a trip to Ember Island through the most pirate infested area of all."

"And let me guess, Zuko wants to be a gracious host. Even if it means getting himself _another_ scar across his face."

"This isn't good…" Suki said thoughtfully. "It's really bad luck that the Earth King decided to go to the theatre now. If it is luck…"

"What do you mean?" Toph asked. Sokka stood by quietly, having gone over this with Zuko already.

"I'm not saying the Earth King is in on it," Suki murmured. "That's ridiculous. But… I don't know. This all seems too coincidental."

"Yes it does." Sokka cut in, wanting to get to the rest of the plan. He gestured to Toph to wait until he was finished, and then remembering the obvious he said so aloud. "Er… let me explain a bit more before asking any more questions."

"What are you, our tutor?"

"_Anyways,_" he continued, "Zuko figures since the pirates must have some sort of aim, to protect the Earth King he's going to spring the trap himself." The girls gasped in protest, but Sokka talked over them. "So he's going to go out to Ember Island early, with a regimen of his best men hiding on his personal ship – he's telling everybody he's preparing the noble's quarters for the Earth King's arrival."

"And what about us, Sokka?" Suki's stare was particularly dark – just because she understood why they needed to be done didn't mean she liked her friends and loved ones taking such stupid risks. "He has to know we won't let him do this alone."

"Well, that's where the next part comes in." Sokka continued further. "We'll be following behind inconspicuously in a smaller, less noticeable boat. If things go bad, really bad, we'll step in. He asked me to bring the Wolfbatman armor if things get _really_ hairy, but there's still the problem of getting from ship to ship without anyone realizing who I am. I'll figure that out later… in any case, he still thinks we can help out as we are if we need to, to heck with any repercussions. Wolfbatman's just a precaution this time."

"Safe bet is you're going to end up using the suit, hands down," Toph smirked a third time.

"I guess." Sokka shrugged in what he hoped was a show of indifference. "But what do you guys think?"

The smirk slowly fell off of Toph's face, replaced by a more pensive expression. "Well… usually I'd say it was just pirates. But this seems…"

"Smarter than the sort of thing you'd usually see pirates doing," Suki finished. "I mean, this was obviously a set up. Getting Aang and Katara out of town so they can spring this? I don't like _any_ of the implications of that."

"Yeah… and that's why I want to mail them to make sure they're alright," Sokka winced slightly as he turned to Toph, hoping that she wasn't reading his mood too strongly. "Which… uh… means I'll need Hawky back, Toph."

Toph stared blankly at him (it suddenly struck Sokka that even though Toph was blind, she never stared blankly at anyone. It was odd). Hawky had been in Toph's possession for quite a while, ever since she had gotten the return letter from her parents. None of the others knew what it said – Toph had had Katara read it to her in private, and neither of them ever spoke of it again. However, there was no doubt it was nothing good – the first cluse being that, again, neither of them brought it up. And whenever Toph was made to think of it, Toph became downcast and somber. Toph could often be frustrated or bitter and bounce back easily, but they rarely ever saw her truly depressed – it was so alien to her. So everyone kind of avoided bringing up the issue until she was ready to bring it up herself, which included Sokka not mentioning Hawky, who technically stayed in Toph's possession. Until now, it seems.

To Sokka's immense relief, Toph looked no different as waved off the issue. "Of course. I'll get him in a bit. I don't know why you didn't take him off my hands sooner."

"Heh… sorry." Behind him, Suki breathed the sigh of relief Sokka was still holding in.

Toph stood up and stretched, probably getting ready to train for a bit in preparation for the coming challenge. "I'll tell you one thing, though," she went on to say. "With all we're about to be going through Aang and Katara better be in mortal peril or something."

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile, in Southern Water Tribe Territory<em>

"AAAAAAAAAAH!"

"AAIIIIEEEEE!"

Aang and Katara held onto each other for support as they fell uncontrollably down the mountain edge. They were gaining speed at a blinding pace, far too fast to stop or slow down before they reached the water, which would undoubtedly be just like hitting stone at this rate.

The two of them struggled to hang onto their perch as the air whipped against them like an unstoppable force. It wouldn't do to let go and go flying through the air – that would make things even worse. No, as they approached the ground they could only hold on as best they could. There were only seconds left.

"Ready?" Aang shouted as the ground approached. Katara wrenched her eyes open nodded, and they clasped hands as the ground approached.

Some ways away, the pirates on the ship that had until a few moments ago been firing artillery at the mountain the Avatar was cheered as they watched their quarry plummet directly in the water. As they celebrated their good fortune, few of them noticed that the Avatar had not actually slammed into the ground as much as sunk into it, but before they could voice their concerns the whoop of triumph was cut off by an odd rumbling.

A moment later a Sky Bison flew up from underwater directly below the ship, propelled to high speeds by a mix of water and airbending. The sudden impact blew their ship to spinters and sends everyone flying high into the air and back into the water with a splash.

Now that they were up in their once more, the bison's two riders could help but be satisfied with their own victory – satisfied being an understatement in this case:

"That. Was. AWESOME!"

Aang grinned and put his arm around his cheering girlfriend's shoulder. "See? I told you Appa-sledding as even better than penguin sledding."

"You've convinced me," she said with a smile as she watched the waterlogged pirate swim to shore, where they were scooped up by a very amused regimen of Water Tribe warriors. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something and pointed back down to the water. "Hey, look! There's another ship!"

"Ready for another run?"

"Definitely."

As the crew of the other pirate ship saw the duo start to nosedive again, the lot of them quickly came to the realization that their jobs did not pay enough…

* * *

><p><em>The Next Day, Fire Nation Seas<em>

The rest of the preparation went forth without much ado. It was fairly easy for Zuko to convince the Earth King that he was to leave a day early to prepare the area – the Earth King and his entourage would leave the next day on a royal barge along with Iroh, Jin, and Mai. The plan was for Iroh to wait for Zuko's word and then allow them all to leave – if Zuko never sent back a message, then he would find some way to stop the trip. Of course, as Zuko found it was quite literally impossible to fool Mai with this sort of thing (especially since she knew about the pirate situation), he took avoiding her wrath for the whole day (no doubt he would be in big trouble after everything was said and done), but that was another problem entirely.

Luckily, or perhaps more troublingly given Zuko's penchant for suspicion, his crew had yet to encounter any trouble. The seas had been totally clear for the past few hours, not even a merchant barge or fisherman's dinghy had crossed their path… which was itself somewhat odd.

He pensively looked back to where he knew Sokka, Toph and Suki were following. He peered closely with his personal telescope – never leave land without it – and saw the barest sign of a small ship in the distance – far enough away that few would even suspect it of following behind. Hopefully the pirates would not suspect a thing until the opportune moment. With that hope in mind, he nodded stonily and turned to his captain for a report.

"Any sign of trouble?"

The middle aged man looked similarly wary - a sense of mistrust lined his features as he stared out to sea. He did not turn to look back at the Fire Lord, but did answer all the same. "Nothing yet, milord. It's quiet… to risk a cliché I'd say it's too quiet."

"I agree. Be ready for anything."

"Aye, sir."

Another twenty minutes passed with no sign, and the sense of restlessness was getting to the whole crew. They could all feel it, the sense that something was wrong. They continued to go about their work, but one could easily see in an odd glance, or a momentary shared look, or simply in the way they regarded each other that they were all getting ready for the worst. Momentarily, Zuko's thoughts went back to his backup in their own boat – he knew that, with the possible exception of Suki, the gang was not made up of exceptionally patient people, like him. Granted, his patience was born of years of brooding (though he would never admit it) and controlling his emotions, but he still nearly laughed at the thought of them probably beside themselves with boredom. The thought left him, however, as his mind came to the situation at hand. Would they, like him and his crew, realize there was something off about everything?

He hoped so.

Another ten minutes, and nothing. Zuko had taken to going downstairs to check on the ship's weapons and the elite guard stowed under the ship – everything was ship shape, though the guardsmen shared his sentiments. He stayed to chat for a short while before returning topside. He supposed he had gotten somewhat complacent: he fully expected the tense atmosphere to be the same as when he left. Instead, the crew was running around in full alert, some darting past him down the stair to man the weapons and others rushing to their posts on deck.

Realizing something had to be wrong, Zuko rushed to find his second in command. It did not take long, he was at his post staring grimly at a single point in the distance and barking orders.

"Captain, what is going on!" Zuko shouted as soon as he was within earshot.

"A ship dead ahead, sire! And look, the flag!"

Zuko whipped out his telescope and looked in the direction the captain was pointing. There was indeed a ship there, a large and fairly luxurious one: it was easily several times the size of his own and even from the distance they were at he could see a lot of guns arraying its side. And on the top of its mast, he saw their flag. One he recognized. It was the flag of the same pirates he had worked with while hunting Aang – not one of his prouder moments. It seemed karma wanted to pay him back for that particular transgression. Zuko, however, was not worried. Or, at least, less worried than he thought he would be.

"Heh. They only brought one ship? Granted, it is a fairly large vessel, but nowhere near enough to stop us," he turned to give the order to his second. "Turn us about Captain. Let's show these fools why the Fire Nation Navy is considered the best."

"Aye sir!" The captain relayed the order as Zuko joined him at their post, and so the assault began. The top firebenders on board readied their artillery weapons – bombs of metal dipped in oil, ignited by firebending, and propelled at top speed. Some of the more powerful benders on board were also able to create blasts of fire which would keep their strength even when launched at far distances. And for closer contact, there were cannons in the ship's side with the nation's most finely crafted cannonballs to tear their attackers apart. Zuko was sure they would not expect the small ship to be so well armed.

With the first volley went over a dozen long range shots, directly at the pirate vessel. And with that volley came Zuko's first clue that something was not right. Instead of sending their own long range weapons toward's the royal ship, the pirates were using all their weapon power against incoming attacks. Zuko could immediately tell they were using ballistas – which shot straighter – instead of catapults or artillery with longer range.

"All they're doing is knocking our shots out of the sky! Even from that distance they should be able to conterattack… why aren't they?"

The captain had no answer. The enemy ship continued to bear down on them, doing nothing but blocking their attacks and getting closer and closer. Soon, they would be able to see the faces of the pirate crew without even needing a telescope. Zuko could hear the crew down below readying the cannons, but he was starting to lose his temper – they should not have needed to rely on the cannons to do any damage. Here again was evidence of enemies acting in ways that did not make sense.

"What is going on! Why are they… argh!" The railing next to his post cracked as Zuko pounded his frustration onto it. As soon as he struck it he drew back, he had not meant to break it after all. He turned and took a moment to inspect the damage, and that's when he saw it. Another ship behind and to the left of them, much smaller than the large vessel they were currently battling. At first he thought it was Sokka defying the plan to draw in and help – which would have been infuriating, to say the least – but closer inspection showed the new vessel sported the same flag as the pirates.

In a near-panic, Zuko turned around completely and saw yet another ship coming up from a third direction: they were surrounded.

"Captain! We have company!" The captain jumped as Zuko shouted in his ear, and jumped again as he saw the two surprise attackers coming up from their flank.

"Blast it! The big one was a distraction! It's a trap!"

"Quickly captain, evasive action!" Zuko shouted in desperation. This situation was rapidly getting worse, but he was never one to give up. Never.

"Too late!" The captain pointed to the closest of the smaller ships, which was leveling a large weapon directly at them set to fire at any moment.

In an effort to protect the lives of his men as best he could, Zuko immediately turned to the deck and roared. "Take cover!"

Then, everything went even more wrong all at once. The small vessel's weapon fired a strange looking projectile directly at the side of their ship – a moment after it shredded through the hull the bomb exploded, ripping open the hold of the ship and letting water in at a frightening pace. Meanwhile, the elite guard held in secret in the hold were swept out of the ship into the open water – taken out of the battle before they could even join it. Zuko's heart sank – in one fell swoop they had immediately lost: the ship was sinking, the men were reeling from the attack, and his first contingency was gone before he could use it. There was only one option left – well, two, if he counted fighting to his last breath.

However, his thoughts and his position were offset as another shot ripped through the ship – this time from the largest pirate vessel. Zuko was expecting another bomb or a cannonball and was very surprised to see that it was some kind of claw attached to a rope, which shot straight through the ship and then stuck there taut keeping the ship moored there and above water – for the time being, that is. Zuko and the Captain, meanwhile, were launched off of their perch by the impact and onto the deck below.

And then to top it all off, the deck was suddenly covered in pirates.

Most of the crew were bowled over and weakened by the explosion and thus easily captured. Zuko himself was picked up and restrained by three pirates – he numbly registered that this was becoming a distressing trend. As he was dragged to his feet, he grimly noticed the rest of the crew being seized as well. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw another shot come from the large ship – this time a net, which scooped up the drifting elite guardsmen. From what he could see, most of them were unconscious… or worse, he could not tell…

Things looked their bleakest, so there was no other recourse. Zuko fought against his captors for a moment, long enough to use a trick Iroh taught him. Breathing as deeply as he could, he sent a blast of fire straight upwards far into the air, before his breath was cut off by a powerful blow. But despite doubling over in pain, Zuko grinned. The pirates probably thought it was an attempt to escape capture, but he knew better. Now to face what came next and hope his second contingency would pull through...

He did not have to wait long. As he finally coughed off the pain of the blow, he looked up to see a man being lowered by pulley down onto his ship, dressed in regal clothing and holding a cane. Though he could tell right away that the man was the pirate captain, Zuko was still surprised – this was not the man he knew led this clan of pirates. This man was very short, very squat and somewhat overweight, with a hooked nose and a pronounced snarl. Obviously things had changed.

As the man stepped off the ship he made a strange barking noise – it took Zuko a moment to realize he was laughing. "Waugh waugh waugh… Fire Lord Zuko. At last we meet. Thought you would not encounter our merry band again, did you?" Zuko tried not to show his surprise: most pirates he had met spoke roughly and with at least a trace of brutality in their voices, but this man talked with a dignified, cultured, almost polite air. He sounded like a noble himself.

Zuko did not let this effect him. He stood up as straight as he could and looked the man directly in the eye. "No. I don't think I did. Especially since you were all a pathetic band of mere vandals when I last saw you. What happened to your leader?"

"Ah, yes. After our last debacle, which I believe you were involved in, that fool was… deposed. By me," the man chuckled to himself. Before continuing, he gestured to the pirates and ship surrounding them. "All of this is my doing. Using my resources I transformed this 'pathetic band,' as you called us, into the greatest force of nautical larceny this world has ever known!"

"Well, you still seem pathetic to me," Zuko said in the most disdainful voice he could muster. One of the men holding him moved to strike him again, but the pirate leader waved the thug off.

"How droll. Pathetic as we are, we have still outsmarted you. Yes… we knew very well that you would fall into our trap."

"Not quite. You'll find that the Earth King is not here, and you will never get your hands on him."

To Zuko's surprise, the pirate crew laughed at this. The leader himself threw back his head and leaned on his cane for support and he chortled away. "Waugh waugh waugh… you see, boys? We had the dear Fire Lord completely fooled!" He allowed for the laughter to die down before continuing. "Unfortunately for your ego, what you probably thought was quite the trick was actually very expected. We _knew_ you would try to spring the trap on your own, and we _knew_ you would underestimate us to the point of being a sitting duck. You see, our target was never the Earth King, no. Our target was _you! _Waugh waugh waugh waugh!"

"What? No… blast it!" Zuko clenched his teeth – how could he have been so thoroughly fooled?

"Now if you'll be so kind, _milord,_" he said mockingly, laughing out the title, "I would request your presence aboard my ship. We have much to discuss."

"I would rather die," Zuko growled. He slowly reached for the dagger he kept hidden in his boots – it seemed these men wanted him alive, but he would not give them the satisfaction.

"I think not," the leader said, gesturing to the net holding his defeated elite guard. "You see, I did not spare your crew because I cared one way or the other if they died. No, I captured them because I knew you were the type of man who would easily give yourself up for your men. Here is the deal – enjoy my hospitality, or I will execute them all."

Off to the side and forced to his knees, the captain yelled out a fierce "No! Don't do it!" and the rest of the crew shouted out in agreement, only to be cut short as the pirates restraining them knocked them to the ground.

Zuko tried to ignore all of this. He knew they would not like it, but he had already made up his mind. "If I go, you swear they will go unharmed?" Predictably, his crew shouted out in protest, but again Zuko ignored them.

"Why, you have my word... heh heh..."

Zuko sighed heavily. "Very well." He held out his hands and allowed himself to be shackled and let onto the lift back onto the pirates' ship. "But if I am to be a prisoner, I might as well learn the name of my captor."

The pirate lord gave out another barking laugh. "I am sad to say that I do not quite like my given name. Too many bad memories. I go by a name my associates call me instead, and though I do not exactly like this one either I'd say it stuck fairly well. Ergo, you may call me… The Penguin."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Dun dun dun...

Introducing the Wolfbatverse's version of the Penguin who, while based on the pirate captain from The Waterbending Scroll, is a new character.

Sorry it took so horribly long, I really am. Stress + Personal projects + Schoolwork + Writer's Block = No Work Done. I had to force myself to work on this, and though I'm not over my problems yet I figured I ought to actually update before the _next_ New Year.

Luckily, this story is short - or at least events happen very quickly. You may have noticed this one has no prologue - it's the only one, I think, that doesn't have one. Doesn't need it.

Bet you thought Katara and Aang were in actual danger there didn't you. Actually, I realized that I hadn't really paid attention to another side of the character - they can be serious and wise but also are often goofy like the kids they are (especially Aang, who has both aspects strong in his character). I wanted to give at least a little attention to that.

As a last funny note, halfway through writing this I realized that at least once in every story so far Zuko has been outnumbered and restrained by an ambush. Once I realized that, I knew I had to have him comment on it.


	13. Danger On The High Seas: Part 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Avatar or Batman. You should know this already.**  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Danger On The High Seas: Part 2<strong>

Sokka did his best not to find the current pandaemonium somewhat ironic. After all, a few minutes earlier everyone in his little backup ship – himself included – had been bemoaning the lack of action.

"So much for the big important mission," Toph had said, "if there are supposed to be pirates infesting these waters, where are they? Huh?"

Toph, it's worth noting, is barely better on ships then she is on a Sky Bison. Sometimes worse, in fact. She can't actually se anything, but every nauseating sway of the boat seemed to impact her twice as much. Luckily she was staving off seasickness, but she was still highly bitter.

"If we don't run into any pirates, that's a good thing," Sokka had replied, though he silently agreed. It would do no good to encourage Toph's aggravation, no matter how much he wanted to sulk with her.

"Not necessarily," Suki said calmly. She had been keeping the peace whenever one of them got impatient, but Sokka could tell the unexpected ease was getting to her as well. "It would still mean that the pirates are out here, which would mean the waters are still not safe."

"Which would mean we'd have to do this again." Toph grumbled. "Swell."

The conversation died down after that, but the restless sentiments remained. So when the suspicious ship appeared on the horizon, the group maybe got a little more excited than was strictly necessary. It was with undeniable grins that they got ready to assist in case anything out of the ordinary happened.

But excitement turned to worry as the battle dragged on, and outright horror as the trap unfolded in front of them. Though Zuko did not see the two ambushing ships until it was too late, Sokka and Suki saw them coming just fine. There was no way to contact Zuko without ruining their contingency, however, which left them unable to do a single thing but watch as Zuko's ship was taken down and boarded.

Horror, however, gave way to determination.

"Alright, I think this qualifies as a situation which needs rescue," Suki was already stoking the steam – a benefit of using a Fire Nation vessel, though with a firebender to help it took a bit longer.

"I saw the signal." Sokka said curtly. "Let's go."

"Hello?" Toph shouted – from her perspective the two had done a lot of shouting and babbling, and though she had gotten the general bad news she still wanted answers. "Blind girl on the ship! What exactly are we heading into?"

"A bad situation," Sokka grunted. "Three ships with who knows how many pirates on board. We might have to sneak on board the big one, but I don't see how. The only other option is a full on attack."

"Ok… yeah…" Toph made a show of thinking, which the others immediately recognized as a sign of incoming sarcasm. "Now how about a plan that _doesn't_ involve us getting blown to bits or sliced to ribbons? The two of you are good, I'll admit it, but a few dozen pirates are a little bit out of even your range. Plus

"What about that cache of earth you brought with you?" Suki noted. Katara had inspired Toph to bring a small jar full of dirt with her, just in case she was caught away from earth to bend. Toph, however, simply scoffed in response.

"Earthbending isn't like water or airbending. I can't really stretch this out into something big. Plus, y'know, _I can't really see._ But don't blame me when I accidentally hit one of you on the head with a rock," she sighed and put a hand to the back of her neck. "Why did I even come along?"

"Because you didn't want us to go into this alone?"

"Because you couldn't resist the opportunity to kick pirate butt and didn't think it through?"

"All true – even though I don't like that last part," Toph smirked and turned to the general area she figured Sokka was standing in. "So Mr. Tactics Guy, any new, actually good plans?"

"Well, I don't think they'll have seen us so maybe we can tail them… I dunno. But as as long as we stay outside their notice we'll have time to think of something."

"I don't think that's going to work, Sokka." Suki said shakily. Sokka turned to her voice to find her at the front of the ship. She had a raised finger pointed toward the pirate ships. With a jolt, Sokka saw what had her so agitated: apparently they weren't as outside their notice as he thought, for the two ships that had helped take down Zuko's ship were breaking off from the largest ship, and what's more they were moving in their direction.

"Oh, that's not good."

"It gets worse, look!"

Sokka looked again, and noticed to his horror something that quite literally made their situation twice as bad. It really was just his luck, he figured.

"Oh, come on! Really? Why does the universe hate me?"

"I'd say you make it too easy again, but I'm still in the dark here! Literally! What's not good? What's going on?"

**_Meanwhile, on the Penguin's Galleon_**

Being captured and detained was not something Zuko particularly enjoyed, so the fact that it was becoming an irritating trend seemed to him a bit typica. He had long gotten used to the idea that the universe would always be downright set against him unless he did something about it - and Sokka had the nerve to constantly complain about _his_ bad luck (Zuko would've been quite happy to switch places for a day, to be honest).

Unfortunately, there wasn't much Zuko could do right now but bide his time and wait. However strange and eccentric he seemed to be, Penguin was smart. Smarter than Zuko would have liked. He had planned this entire situation to the letter, and now that Zuko was caught in his trap it seemed in order to save not only his own life but the lives of his men Zuko would have to stay caught. At least for the time being.

So it was with a very drawn grimace that Zuko was ushered up into Penguin's ship, forced to listen to Penguin's conceited prattling all the while.

"… and so, your highness, it was quite easy to counter your meager planning. You Fire Nation warrior-types, always so eager to take what you see that you fail to look around you and see what's really going on. Quite the joke, if I do say so myself! Waugh waugh waugh!"

Zuko closed his eyes and promised himself it would all be worth it. Eventually. He hoped. Unfortunately, the thought did not make being dragged up onto the deck any more pleasant. Nor did it make the sight of the jeering pirate crew as they sneered and spit at him any more so either. What's worse, Penguin gave them a minute to enjoy their position of power over the young Fire Lord as much as they can before continuing whatever it is he planned to do with them – instead, he went over to check on his other crewmates who were busy reeling up the net entrapping Zuko's elite guard.

Zuko scowled wider – the only thing that made this situation any better was that this definitely wasn't the _most_ humiliating ordeal he had ever gone through. Not even in the top five. Which in the end didn't make him feel much better after all.

Most of the pirates were content to laugh and occasionally throw things at him but eventually one of them got up the gumption to come up to him, which snapped Zuko out of his frankly depressing reverie. The man was large and grizzled, missing several teeth and a quarter of an eye yet somehow maintaining a long length of luxurious hair.

He leaned in very close, so that Zuko could see every foul contour of his unkempt face. "Not so high and mighty now, are ye boy?"

Zuko grimaced from the smell of his breath, but managed to keep his cool – in a manner of speaking. "Perhaps," he smirked, "but somehow I'm still leagues ahead of you."

The pirate roared with rage and looked ready to start raving, but since he had didn't quite want another dose of his breath Zuko used a trick he learned from his uncle to spit a small burst of flame. The man quickly covered his face, but did not look any happier for it.

"Ah! Think ye're funny, do you boy?" He growled.

Zuko smirked again. "Not usually, but in this case…" Zuko gestured with his head for the pirate to look behind him. He did, to find that his very long hair was on fire.

As it turns out, he had a very unmanly sounding scream.

What followed was a few minutes of quality entertainment as the pirate ran across the deck like a komodo-chicken with its head cut off, while his crewmates ran behind him trying to douse him out with a bucket of filthy looking water.

Unfortunately, they quickly doused the fire, which ended Zuko's brief bit of amusement. Worse still, the still smoldering pirate emerged from his bath looking quite annoyed.

"I'll make you suffer for that, boy!" He brandished his sword and advanced towards the young Fire Lord, who to his credit neither flinched nor cringed.

"Ahem…"

The loud cough signaled that Penguin had finally returned. The pirate immediately froze in his tracks.

"I don't think I want you harming our guest, Hua-Ching," the Penguin continued, "not just yet."

The pirate pouted childishly. "He set me on fire!" he protested.

"I saw," Penguin sneered furiously, and the pirate took a step back, "and personally if I were you I wouldn't let it get around that I let a prisoner make a fool of you like that!"

The pirate cringed and slinked away, giving Zuko the evil eye the entire time.

"My apologies, Fire Lord," Penguin said, turning his attention back to Zuko with his familiar silky tone. "Hua-Ching's childish anger gets the best of him, sometimes."

Zuko smirked in a way they both knew was totally humorless. "As my Uncle might say, you are the company you keep," he said, making sure his voice had as much edge as possible. He quickly but inconspicuously searched Penguin's face for any sign of anger, any involuntary twitch, anything he could use to rile the pirate into making a mistake.

However, Penguin still seemed to feel that he was totally in control, enough so that Zuko's comment did nothing but twist his face into a smug but equally humorless smile.

"Amusing. Right this way, your highness," he said as he pushed Zuko back towards the cabin door.

As they were about to go into below deck a diminutive pirate rushed up to them, completely out of breath. "Wait, sir! There's another ship approaching."

"What?" Penguin roared. "Who would dare?"

"It looks like that Water Tribe boy, the Kyoshi Warrior and the Bei-Fong girl, sire."

"Them? They were supposed to have gone with the Avatar to the Southern Water Tribe. Hmph, I hate it when things don't go according to plan."

"Whining, are we Penguin?" Zuko jibed, feeling for the first time like things might not be so bleak.

"Hardly, your highness. Just disappointed I had to use my contingency after all."

Zuko's face fell. "Contingency?"

"Indeed," Penguin leered with a terrible, jagged grin. "Feast your eyes on the other side of our ship, if you will."

Penguin gestured in the opposite direction of Sokka's ship, and Zuko's face fell further. Behind the ship, in perfect single file, sat two smaller ships of the same model of the ones that caught his own ship by surprise. Due to their position, it would be impossible for anyone approaching from the direction Zuko, and now Sokka, came from to see them or even have any clue of their presence. Obviously they were intended as second surprise attack, in the case that the first failed for whatever reason. In any other situation, Zuko might have even been impressed at the level of preparation involved.

Now, however, he only felt dread.

"T-that seems like overkill, doesn't it?" He stammered. For a brief moment, his care for keeping decorum over Penguin faltered and his pride failed him – he only wanted to spare his friends the terrible odds they were about to face.

"Perhaps," Penguin grinned even wider – it was a disgusting sight. "But I've heard that it helps to be more safe than sorry with your little friends."

Penguin gave a signal to his assistant, who tossed what looked like a hankercheif over the edge towards the two ships. Immediately, they turned and pushed off to join the other two ships in formation.

Penguin turned in total unconcern and pulled Zuko – who was rooted to the spot – back towards the lower deck. "And now, your highness, if you would join me for some tea…"

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><p><strong><em>Meanwhile, on the open seas.<em>**

"Come on! Faster, faster!"

"I'm trying to get this thing to go as fast as I can! Oh, what I wouldn't give for Appa right now."

"I still can't believe we're running away."

"Call it a tactical retreat, Toph. There's no way we can take on _five_ ships all at once. It's just not possible."

Toph crossed her arms in frustration, but she knew Sokka and Suki were right. The situation had spiraled well out of their control, not that it had ever been in their control in the first place.

"Is it just me, or do all our plans end up totally backwards at some point?"

"Er… well… yeah," Sokka blushed slightly. "But this time it's not my fault! It's Zuko's dumb plan!"

"Less denial, more power!" Suki shouted from her lookout position. "They're still gaining on us!"

Their small ship had managed to get away from the majority of the fleet – it was quite lucky that the largest ship was not giving chase – but one of them had managed to cut up to them before they could get away. Now it was still on their tail and getting closer every second.

"That's as fast as we can go! If only we had Firebending to work the steam or Waterbending to boost us or _something!"_

"Stop whining and think of something!"

"Too late!" Suki shouted as she leapt down from her lookout perch. "They're going to board us!"

It was fairly lucky that they knew what was coming before being attacked, unlike Zuko's crew. They weren't destabilized, weren't stunned, and though they were desperate they could still fight back. With the rest of the pirate ships too far away to fire, the only thing giving them any kind of advantage, it was down to a fair fight – or at least, more fair than if it had been four ships on one. A dozen pirates against three kids would normally seem downright unbalanced, but these were no ordinary kids.

However, it soon looked as though it would be down to two kids: Toph quickly realized that she would have to stay out of the fight for now. She couldn't see, and the rock of the boat messing with her equilibrium was not helping. The deck almost immediately exploded with sound – swords flying and clashing, strikes and hits connecting, and the occasional shriek of pain. While she could hear Suki and Sokka's voices amidst the quagmire, she couldn't pinpoint exactly where they were – if she went by what she could hear she might accidentally do something that harmed more than helped, and with only her little cache of dirt it was probably best if she bided her time.

"Aha!" A voice she didn't recognize behind her, and the sound of a sword unsheathing. Well, she could hear that clearly at least. Bam! One less pirate to worry about.

However, to her relief it quickly seemed like even though she was staying out of the fight things were going to go their way. As she listened she soon realized that there were many more sounds of pain coming from the pirates than from her friends, and the occasional splash told her that quite a few of the crooks were going over the side. If she listened close she could just hear the sounds of the two of them working together, and even just by ear she felt just a little amazed – not being one be amazed easily, she'd of course deny it.

She could hear them flipping and slipping past one another, coordinating hits like a single unit – bam, bam, bam, bam – four more pirates went over the side. They sounded like a machine. Things were obviously getting good: Sokka was even laughing. She wished she could see.

And then suddenly someone was picking her up – if she hadn't recognized the grip as being Sokka's she might've killed the guy, though she still might…

"Hey! What gives? What're you doing? Put me down."

"No time!" Sokka voice came from right behind her head. He carried her somewhere and then tilted her down a little. "Use your earthbending, fire something directly in front of you."

Toph grumbled but did as he asked. A moment later she felt her projectile – in the shape of a giant fist, just for fun - hit something solid, and heard a very satisfying crunch.

A minute later, the boat started moving again and Sokka and Suki were sighing in relief. Just so they wouldn't forget she was there, she walked over and punch Sokka hard in the shoulder. From the sound of it, he went sprawling to the floor. She grinned.

"Hey, what was that for?" he said, sounding affronted.

"Whaddaya mean 'what was that for?' Who told you could go dragging me off somewhere?"

"Oh! Sorry Toph," came Suki's voice from somewhere to her left, "but we had to take down their ship somehow."

"Not that we couldn't take 'em if they decided to board us again," Sokka cheered – he was on his feet again and by the sound of it grinning ear to ear. "We were awesome! Especially you, Suki. That was amazing."

Suki sounded embarrassed, but pleased. Toph would've bet money that she was blushing. "Well, it wasn't just me. What about when you floored that guy and used his own sword to pin him to the hull?"

"Nah, that was only because you tripped him. It's nothing on you flipping over that pirate and tossing him into that other guy and both over the edge!"

"I wouldn't've been able to do that if you hadn't maneuvered the guy into place."

"True. We make a real dynamic duo, don't we? You could totally come along with me when I suit up! What do you think about Wolfbatgirl?"

Suki's voice suddenly got that tone all of theirs got when they didn't quite want to tell Sokka he's crazy. "Uhh…"

"Wolfbatwoman, maybe?"

"I… don't think so, Sokka."

Even though she knew she hadn't input much in the fight, Toph still felt a little hurt from the lack of attention. "Ahem!" she said teasingly, "sorry not to be part of the party, but you guys sure you don't want to bring those pirates back and make them build you a trophy or something?"

"Oh come on, Toph. Like you don't brag whenever we beat anyone on solid ground," Suki teased right back.

"Yeah, Toph. We know you're just as awesome when you've got some ground under you. You're just as much a part of our dynamic… uh… trio," Sokka said, putting his hand on her shoulder. She resisted the urge to flinch. "In fact, you should definitely get your own name too! Then again, you thought the Wolfbatman thing was kind of dumb-"

"And I didn't?" Suki laughed.

"I've got it! You could be our little Robin-Lizard! Or Badgermole-Girl!"

Now she was resisting the urge to roll her eyes. She failed this time. "Gee Sokka, that sounds… wow, I can't even be sarcastic this time. That's just terrible."

Suki was downright cracking up now, which meant Sokka was most likely pouting. She caught herself fairly quickly, though, given that she was the only one reminding the others that this was still a very serious situation. "Okay, enough fun at Sokka's expense-"

"-but!" Toph started.

"-we can do that later."

"Hey!"

"We've still got three ships on our tails, and though we've got a major headstart they're probably going to start giving it their all soon. If more than one ship catches up to us at once next time we're not going to make it between the pirates on board and their cannons."

Sokka stopped to think for a second, and then his eyes lit up with an idea. "Hey, didn't we pass a small island not too far back?"

"Yeah…" Suki said, slowly realizing where he was going.

"Set a course for it! I have a plan."

"Yes!" Toph cheered. "Solid ground here I come!"

_**A Short Time Later**_

It took them a very short amount of time to reach the island, the first bit of good news Sokka pointed out – this meant they weren't too far away from Zuko. In fact, they could still see the flagship in the distance.

The next piece of good news he noticed was that the other ships were keeping their distance. While this probably meant they wanted to sink them to avoid being beaten in another fistfight, it also meant they were able to get to the island without any trouble. And once they were there, he knew they would at least be able to let loose their secret weapons.

The first secret weapon was just as happy about this: "I can see again! I'm back! Finally!" Toph was downright ecstatic, more than she usually was when she finally got back to solid ground after a trip. Sokka figured – correctly – that not being able to help in the current fight was getting to her a lot more than she was letting. In fact, she almost did a little dance.

"Don't let your guard down," Suki warned, searching around for the third of their trio. "Where's Sokka?"

Before they had sailed up to the island Sokka had gone below deck unnoticed to ready their other secret weapon – it had to be as secretive as possible, just in case the pirates were using telescopes to watch. As far as they knew, he had to be still with the others. So he slipped away without even Suki noticing, and didn't come back out at all.

"Psst! Over here!" He whispered from the door to below deck. Suki and Toph rushed over to find him armored up and ready to fight back, this time as Wolfbatman.

"Took you long enough," Toph mused. "But what's with putting on that stuff now? It's not like you can use it?"

"Maybe I can," Sokka said mysteriously. "Are they still keeping their distance?"

Suki took a quick glance out to see to confirm. "A bit, yeah." She reported. "But they'll probably advance to fire in once they realize we won't be shoving off."

"That's fine. Toph, are you good on the bending front?"

"Yep," she said proudly. "I can even tell where the are somewhat by how their ships displace the water, and how that water hits the ground."

Suki whistled, looking stunned. Sokka knew exactly how she felt: the extent of Toph's abilities still astounded _him_ sometimes and he'd seen her in action dozens of times. "Wow! That's impressive."

Toph smiled smugly – Sokka had to roll his eyes, given that not long ago she had jibed them for bragging. "Well, I've been practicing," she said, chuckling slightly.

"Well, it's perfect is what it is! Toph, you keep catapulting shots at them – as long distance as you can. We want them to want to stay as far back as they can for as long as they can. Too far back to fire and way too far back to come ashore. You can hold out for a lot longer than we need." Toph's nod and grin was all he needed, so he turned to Suki. "Suki, I need you to stick around just in case the worst happens and they get too close. That, plus you need to make it look like I'm still here just in case they're watching. Act like I'm inside the ship trying to figure something out. Pretend to come in and talk with me, act like I'm giving you guys orders, that sort of thing. If they know I'm not here it could be big trouble."

"And what are you going to be doing during all of this, Sokka?" Suki asked, her voice tinged with equal parts suspicion and worry. Sokka nearly gulped.

"Well, that's where Toph's artillery comes in. Short story is I'm going to try to get to the main ship to free Zuko and his crew. Toph, I'm going to need you to shoot something as far towards the big ship as you can. I'm going to ride

"You're going to… **WHAT?"** It had never occurred to Sokka before that moment how much like Katara Suki could be when she was worried. And much to his surprise, Toph looked almost as irritated. If they weren't about to be killed by pirates he might have feared for his life.

"Remember when I told you to think of a plan?" Toph's voice had as much sharp sarcasm in it as she could muster. "Remember when I specifically said not to think of anything that could kill you?"

"It's the only way!"

"You keep using that excuse." Suki sighed.

"And it keeps working out… right?" Sokka smiled in a very innocent yet cheeky way. He got a pair of angry eyetwitches in response.

"Not this time, genius," Toph crossed her arms, looking very disapproving. "No way. I'm not going to shoot you at the pirates. You can't make me."

_**Ten Minutes Later**_

"I can't believe I'm about to shoot you at the pirates." Toph groaned. "How did you get me to agree with this again?"

Sokka grinned. "I just reminded you how often you've wanted to shoot me into the sky before."

"Yeah… right…" Toph rolled her eyes, though she bit her lip nervously, Sokka's attempts at humor only slightly working. "Let's get this over with."

"Be as careful as humanly possible, Sokka." Suki was supervising the whole thing. Though she was going along with it, her eyes were set and her expression was very drawn – unlike Katara, she could often be convinced of something if it was the only option tactically, but she was clearly having trouble not stopping it this time.

Toph had already started shelling the pirate ships with artillery beforehand. They were stopping their advance and held back, just out of their own firing range of their own mechanical catapults (Sokka swelled with pride at Toph's superior firepower). Obviously they were waiting for either an opening or for Toph's supply of earth to run out, which gave them a lot of time and an opportunity to get one very special projectile past them unnoticed."

"Yeah, I will. I'm going to have to ride on the back of the boulder so they'll be less likely to see me as I approach, and then climb over as I pass over them. Shouldn't be too- ouch!"

"Thank you Toph," Suki smiled as Toph pulled back the hand that just smacked Sokka's head into a mock salute. "We said _careful._ That means _less_ insane."

"Alright, alright," Sokka grumbled. "Fine. Just fire, alright Toph? Happy trails!"

"Good luck Sokka," Toph said sincerely. "You're gonna need it."

"Don't get yourself killed, alright?" Suki frowned. He gave her his best reassuring look and winked.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll be back with Zuko before you know it. FIRE!"

And a second later he was hurtling through the air. He bit back an excited shout.

**Meanwhile, On One Of The Pirate Ships**

"Deadwater" Ya was the head lookout for the Penguin's scout parties - he had proven essential during the ambush on the Fire Lord's ship - and as such it was his duty at this point to spot incoming attacks and warn his men before they took a bad hit. And some times it was easier than others, like this: the most recent attack went so fair over, above, and past their ships that he would've thought it wasn't aimed at them if he hadn't known better.

"Aha! That one was way off course!" he laughed gloatingly. "Maybe that Earthbender girl is getting rusty – a spot of seasickness, no doubt. Those Earth Kingdom folks, especially them Earthbenders, are a bunch of landlubbers - ha! At this rate, we'll have them in no time!"

Little did he know how wrong he was - not only was that shot not off course at all, but as the coming volley of projectiles proved that one being far off from their position was just a fluke. Much the opposite of what they thought, in fact, for it quickly became obvious to him and the rest of the crews that they were not going to be getting any closer to that island for a while.

Fine by them… they could wait…

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>I won't apologize for the obscenely long hiatus this time. Not only do I always apologize and never improve, but between graduating, working on my own projects and looking for work, I just haven't had time to think about this.

Which leads to another tragic point, with some good news. The big thing is, I'm moving on to what I hope is bigger and better things - honestly, most of my forays into fanfiction were attempts at practicing doing this sort of thing for real. I think it helped. Maybe. The point here is, though, that my focus is going to be on that and not on these from now on. Now, there's a few addendums to that: one, it's extremely unlikely that I'll update any of my other fics except for on a ridiculously sporadic basis, but that doesn't mean I might not ever do it, ever. Maybe. Two: that doesn't apply as much to this fic. I liked the ideas I came up for with this a lot more than some of my others, and thus I want to finish what I started here. I'll keep updating this, and get through all three epic stories if I can, but my other fics not so much. Maybe I'll add a thing or two to Moments Lost In Time. Maybe.

Speaking of which, if anyone's interested in taking up my JCA fic let me know. Otherwise, it's probably just going to be discontinued.

Anyway, the chapter. Man, the next chapter is probably going to be _short._ After these events it's really just bang-bang-bang one event after another until the end.

Once the thought of having the fight scene on the ship be from Toph's point of view entered my mind, I was sold on it. Not only did it prevent me from screwing up another action scene, but it gave an interesting viewpoint on Sokka and Katara's dynamic duo-ness. Speaking of which, I should point out that some characters have roles that compare to multiple Batman characters (Zuko probably being the best example right now) - neither Suki nor Toph is quite "Robin" right now, nor will either ever fit the role truly, but as I have it planned I'll try to make Toph kind of a mix between Robin and Alfred (for as long as it lasts), while Suki ends up being a mix of a decent chunk of characters, Batgirl being one of them.

Because absolutely nobody is going to get the joke, Deadwater Ya is an extended pun on "Mortimer Drake" a minor and silly Batman villain named the Cavalier, who is based off of pirates. There's another character reference to a Batman villain here, but that one didn't come out so well so I won't mention it.


	14. Danger On The High Seas: Part 3

**Disclaimer: Do not own Avatar, Batman elements created by Bill Finger... and Bob Kane.  
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><p><strong>Danger On The High Seas: Part 3<br>**

Drifting high above the sea with nothing to hold onto except for a chunk of rock hurtling through the air really gives one an opportunity to think. About live. About decisions. Good ones, like having a nice meat dinner after all this is done. Bad ones, like jumping onto the back of a catapult round. Etc.

In particular, Sokka thought he really might enjoy the idea of flying without Appa under better circumstances. He figured maybe he ought to have been an airbender in another life… but then again he didn't actually like putting himself into abject danger as much as he had been letting on recently. Danger like the water that was rapidly approaching as he thought these things. The water that would hit him like a solid rock at his speed. The water that would likely shatter his bones no matter what side of the rock he was on, and drown him if he did somehow survive the impact.

Oh, this was a bad idea.

"Aaaaaaah!" Sokka yelled. He was at a loss to do anything else, really. Jumping off wouldn't help – might even make things worse. He had no bending to help him out, and none of his Wolfbatman gadgets would help in any way. So… yeah. Falling to his doom. Katara was going to kill him.

Still, there was nothing for it. All he could think to do was cling to the back of the rock, wince, and hope the impact wasn't too bad. But then the moment came and the impact didn't happen. Another moment passed with the same phenomenon – he was still falling, he could feel it, but he was not hitting the water.

Sokka dared to open his eyes to figure the situation out, and noticed that the rock was slowing down as it neared the water. "Toph…" Sokka breathed a sigh of relief, and felt a wave of gratefulness and pride in Toph's ability to control her earthbending even at huge distances.

He wasn't out of the woods yet, however. He would of course still have to jump off the rock – he didn't want to get dragged down to the bottom of the ocean with it once it broke the surface – and after that he would need to swim all the way to the pirates' ship. Luckily, Zuko's derelict ship was not too far away, and even from this distance he could see the pirates had a system of ladders and pulleys leading down to it: if he could get to it and deal with the guards he would have an easy time getting on board to save Zuko.

Well, not easy. But it could easily have been a much worse situation...

Thanking whoever he could think of for small miracles, Sokka dropped off of the falling rock, which sped up as he kicked off and sank under the waves, and started to swim…

_**Meanwhile, In The Penguin's Dining Room**_

Zuko couldn't help but marvel at the luxuriousness of the room in which he found himself trapped – a mere dining room worth more than everything and everyone he had seen above deck all together. The table was exquisitely sculpted by reclusive artists off the southern shores of the Earth Kingdom, the food clearly prepared by some renowned chef – likely a captive – and the silverware forged of silver and gold smelted in the same mines that he himself used for his royal court. All of which Penguin wasted no time telling him repeatedly.

The honest reason for his amazement, however, was not at how elegant the room was but at how much more expense was put into Penguin's own wants than into his men's – while his men were slovenly, probably ate cheaply and certainly did not have anything as comfortable as a private dining hall or bedroom, Penguin poured their ill gotten gains into private rooms and services for himself only.

It disgusted Zuko – even at his own worst he had never, ever mistreated or ignored the needs of his men. He had insulted them before, yes. Disregarded them in favor of brooding or revenge. Maybe even been harsh with them – but he had never disrespected them. Especially not so utterly.

He pointed this out – the word "disgustingly selfish" had come up – but Penguin just laughed it off.

"As though my men have the brains to say anything about it, _milord_," he sneered, spitting the title mockingly once again. "Here's the funny thing – they're still very loyal to me. Loyalty is an odd trait among pirates, should you find the right ones to ally yourself with. Not to mention that thanks to my expert tactics we have looted much more than we ever have before: even with the reduced share they get under my leadership the men are still much richer than ever before. So they have no reason to mutiny. Now, feel free to help yourself, your majesty."

And so it was that Zuko found himself sitting at the dinner table of the leader of the most well organized group of pirates he had ever seen. His sight was full of food, sweets and drink, but as Penguin had"accidentally" forgotten to unshackle him all he could do was watch, irritated, as his captor very slowly ate his fill. We wouldn't have eaten a bite regardless, but forcing him to be a prisoner as Penguin at a feast fit for a royal… Zuko understood there was little point to all of this beyond humiliation.

He would have none of it, however. Not lying down. "Why am I even here, Penguin?"

Penguin grinned. It was a very unsettling look for him. "Whatever do you mean?"

"You have me here when you could have just killed me, forced me into becoming your captive by bartering with my crew when it would be less trouble for you to simply execute everyone and drag me off, and now you have me a prisoner among luxury when you would be wiser to merely toss me in the brig. What's really going on here?"

Penguin's leer spread even wider, if that were possible. "You're proving yourself to be very blunt, your highness. _Waugh waugh waugh…"_ he chortled,"A simple ransom and delivery, nothing more. Nothing less."

"This is far too intricate for a simple ransom, and you're too smart to risk all of your comfort going after the Fire Lord himself. There must be a purpose."

"What if I merely want to prove to world that I can? That the kings and heroes our people so worship are human – you can bleed. _Waugh waugh. _Perhaps I enjoy making you suffer for daring to think I'm less than the greatest mind on these seas! _Waugh, waugh, Waugh!_

"So, it's an inferiority complex then, is it? I should have known. Everything's clear now. So that's why you go out of your way to take on your betters and spend your ill-gotten gains on things so ridiculously extravagant. You know, that's actually pretty funny."

The smile on Penguin's face fell quickly, turning his already ugly face even more so. This time, however, it caused Zuko to smile himself. Finally, an opening.

"I'm inferior to no one, boy! Least of all you!" Penguin punctuated his rage with a fierce jab at Zuko's shoulder. Zuko, however, continued to smile.

"Oh, I beg to differ. And I'm sure deep down you do, too."

Penguin roared and raised his first as if to strike Zuko, but stayed his hand and struck the table instead. It cracked under the hit, sending cups and plates in every direction. After a moment Penguin forced himself to calm down, but seemed not to trust himself to speak yet. He made do by glaring instead.

Zuko smirked. It was clear that Penguin wanted him totally unharmed. Interesting. "Cheers," he quipped, picking his cup up from the floor and raising it in a mock toast. "Anyone for seconds?"

**Meanwhile, In The Waters Outside**

Captan Lanai fidgeted as quietly as he could, testing his shackles once again while attempting not to alert the pirate guards. He didn't know why he bothered, the result remained the same – there was no way he could break his bonds himself, he just didn't have the leverage. It made his blood boil to think of his ship, however wrecked and scuttled it was, being in the hands of these bloodthirsty bandits, but there was nothing to be done for it: all of his men were unfortunately in the same position. If only a few of them could escape – there was only a token guard left behind to watch them, the rest had gone back up to the ship… but even if they did succeed, there was little hope for escape – the flagship could blow them out of the water if they so pleased, and the ship would not make it very far before sinking anyway. Thing seemed to be at their absolute bleakest.

Lanai instead contented himself with watching the trio of remaining pirates walk back and forth, studying their movements for the rarest of opportunities. In fact, he was paying closer attention to his surroundings than even the pirates themselves were, so it made sense that he was the only one who saw it.

"It" was a sudden shuffling movement over the side of the ship, a glimpse of something that might have been grabbing onto the ledge. Lanai froze, not quite sure if he saw what he saw.

Minutes went by with was no further motion. Lanai was just starting to think he had just imagined it when one of the pirates – by himself, as the other two pirates were watching the prisoners about to be brought aboard the flagship - patrolled past the spot. Then it happened again. This time there was no mistaking the pair of arms that wrapped around the unsuspecting raider's neck from behind and pulled him soundlessly over the edge… but still, no one else noticed.

Another minute passed. The other pirates, unaware that they were one fewer, continued to wait for the next platform to come down, but Lanai was now closely watching the edge. Sure enough, a dark figure quietly climbed over the edge only not long after, looking around cautiously and loosely wearing the pirates hat and clothes over what looked like some kind of light armor.

With a catlike treat he inched over to the other pirates. Lanai smiled to himself – something told him he did not even need to look that way to know whoever this shadowy figure is would make short work of them.

He was not disappointed. First there were some surprised shrieks, then the sounds of a scuffle and two thuds. After some silence, Lanai turned to see the figure walking towards him, looking no worse for the wear. The figure then came around him and started using a dagger to break through Lanai's shackles.

"So, I'm guessing you're with us?" he whispered, ever cautious.

The figure chuckled slightly. "No need to whisper, they won't be able to hear up there on that ship." With a crack, the shackles broke. "And yes, I'm here to help. Help me get the rest of the crew free."

Lanai picked up a fallen sword and got to work on the nearest crewman to him. It did not take much long to free them all, as at least half of them had been taken on board – probably sitting on deck waiting for Penguin to give the word to kill them. The thought made Lanai furious, but it also gave him a direction with which to make use of his newfound freedom.

"I'm going to climb up there and personally stuff one his Penguin's trick harpoons down his throat," he snarled. The other crewmen nodded in grim agreement. The unknown figure, however, shot his hand out in a calming motion.

"Not yet," he warned. "We don't have the manpower to take on… you said his name was Penguin? Someone needs get him a more threatening nickname."

Lanai rolled his eyes impatiently. "Then what do you suppose we do, then? Wait here for the next guard to come and recapture us?"

"Most of the crew isn't here…" the figure mused. He rubbed his chin in thought. "I'm guessing the Fire Lord's Elite Guard is being kept on board?"

Lanai started in surprise "How did you know about that?" The figure gave him a long, flat look. "Fine… yes, they're all on board."

"Then we still have a chance. We have the element of surprise on our side. I'm going to go up there and soften them up for you – once it's time to join the party, get topside and help us finish them off."

"And how will we know when it's time to get up there?" Lanai

The figure leapt up to the side of the ship and began to scale it using what looked like a sword and a strange bent weapon. Taking a moment to make sure he had a good hold onto the edge, he turned back to the confused crewmen with a smirk.

"Trust me, you'll know."

**Meanwhile, Elsewhere**

Though she was too far away to see the action about to unfold on the flagship, not to mention unable to see what Sokka was up to at all through the water anyway, Toph would not allow herself to get anxious or worry… much. She was sure Sokka could take care of himself against a whole pirate ship - after all, he did take down a bunch of airships with a single one of his plans. Granted, that was accomplished mostly through trickery and strategy – they had barely had to fight directly at all. And he had had Suki and herself as backup, and in the end he (and her) would've died without Suki's help…

She had to remind herself that he had backup this time as well… they were just all imprisoned at the moment…

A shared glance or two between Suki and herselfas they went about setting up their mini-fort told her tat even with all her battle training the older girl was allowing herself to think the same worrying thoughts she was, and unlike Toph she didn't have the excitement of hurling boulders at pirate ships to distract her. Truth was, Toph kept most of her worry way in the back of her mind while most of her focus was on the fight – which she was definitely enjoying – whereas Suki, having finished setting up their beachfront, had little to do but sit around and worry. Toph was sure, as a warrior, the lack of action was probably driving her crazy. It would've driven herself crazy, after all.

At the moment, Suki was under the ship pretending to take orders from Sokka – she had the brilliant idea to take a few strong reeds from the beach and stringing them together in full view of the pirates, giving the impression that Sokka had been injured and needed a splint, providing a decent reason for why he didn't leave the ship.

As a result, Toph hadn't seen her in a while. She hoped she hadn't tried to swim all the way to pirate ship herself to give Sokka some backup, she didn't need _both_ of them getting themselves killed (which, she reminded herself, was impossible, since there was no way she would let either of them die on her watch). It was already enough in her book that Sokka was beating down pirates in person while all she did was toss a few rocks at them.

Toph was finally snapped out of her thoughts and self-denials at being worried by Suki finally coming out of the boat. Toph knew the girl well enough to know that she was probably smiling as she approached, but her heartbeat and stance showed she was all business.

"How's it going so far," she said as she walked up.

"Well, we're not dead yet," Toph grinned, making a point of rustling up an extra large boulder to prove her point. It sailed through the air and smashed into one of the remaining ships, which miraculously managed to stay afloat.

"Always good to hear." Toph could just hear the ironic humor in her voice. "Anyway, 'Sokka' says stay the course and wait for an opening."

There was a brief silence as Toph raised an eyebrow. "Um… you know you don't actually have to give me fake orders or anything, right? You're not cracking up on me, are you?"

Suki laughed. "Nah, I just figured it would be easier to pretend to be saying something if I actually said something."

Toph rolled her eyes. "Ugh," she scoffed teasingly, "that's just what Sokka would say. You and him are by far the silliest people I know, I swear."

"Sillier than Aang?" Suki raised an eyebrow that Toph, naturally, couldn't see. But she could hear the expression in her voice.

"Ok, maybe not _the_ silliest."

Suki laughed. "I kind of wish Aang were here. This situation could use a bit more silliness. Plus the whole "Avatar" thing. We could use the help."

"We've got this," Toph gritted her teeth as she launched another projectile at the pirates.

"Hopefully." She mused. "I wish I knew how Sokka was doing."

Toph said nothing.

"Come on, don't lie and tell me you're not worried either."

Toph remained silent for a few moments, then finally spoke. "I'll tell you one thing, I hope whatever's keeping Princess and Twinkletoes is worth all this, or I'm gonna get back at 'em somehow."

"I think you've said that already."

"Yeah, but this time **I really mean it!"**

**At The Southern Water Tribe**

Aang and Katara sat atop an icy mountain, huddled together in their heavy coats and gazing out toward a beautiful sunlit afternoon. All was peaceful, with no sound but the crackling of the small fire they had made, and no distractions from the sight except each other's company. It was, in short, a perfect moment.

"This is wonderful," Katara sighed.

"Yeah, who would've thought those pirates would barely be any trouble at all?" Aang grinned. "Now we have all day to ourselves. Great, huh?"

"Mmhmm…" Katara hugged Aang closer, and they silently leaned into each other to further enjoy the moment.

After a long time, Aang sighed. "I guess we should be going back soon, huh?"

Katara groaned. With all that was going on with the world after Zuko became Firelord, and especially now that the Phoenix King returned, she barely ever got the chance visit her home and see her family. Between being back home again and her romantic afternoon with Aang, also a rarity these days, she was feeling more ambivalent than usual.

"Aw… do we have to, really?" She said with an almost uncharacteristic pout.

Aang looked equally disappointed that the thought had hit him. "Yeah… I think so. The others might need us. You have to admit this pirate thing seem fishy."

Katara rolled her eyes, but bit her lip. She knew, after all, that Aang was right, even if she didn't want to. "I'm sure all we're missing is another day spent on a wild goose-snipe hunt for Azula. We're probably not missing anything."

Aang gave her an understanding but hard stare – it was the same kind of stare she was used to giving to people. She wasn't entirely sure she was happy it had rubbed off on him… or, she wondered, perhaps he had always been able to do that. "Could be, but with all this craziness going on it's better to be safe than sorry isn't it?"

She sighed deeply. "I suppose you're right, better tell Dad that we're going to lea-"

"Ahem."

The two lovebirds jumped at the sound of a third person in their midst. They turned to find Hakoda, who had apparently snuck up on them while they were engrossed in the view. Immediately the two slid away from each other: Katara looked away from her father sheepishly while Aang nervously brushed off his coat. They hadn't been doing anything worth worrying about, but if he were honest Aang would admit that Hakoda still kind of scared him, and it was best to follow his own advice about being safer than sorrier.

For his part, Hakoda merely chuckled. "No need to be so nervous, boy," he said between laughs, "as far as I'm concerned you've more than earned the right to be with my daughter. You're quite a catch, and so's my daughter – don't forget that!"

Katara slapped her forehead in a very Sokka-like way, but Aang beamed from ear to ear. "Thanks, sir!" He stood up and gave Hakoda an overly enthusiastic kind of salute. "I won't let you down."

"I'm sure," Hakoda smirked. "But I didn't come up here to interrupt your little rendezvous." Katara and Aang looked at each other in surprise, wondering if there wasn't some other danger they needed to help with. Hakoda, however, seemed to sense their thoughts. "Nothing like that, don't worry! It's just… I'm hoping you're not planning on leaving us just yet. You'd ruin all the work we've done!"

Katara and Aang looked at each other again, this time in confusion. "Huh?" She said. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's not every day my daughter comes home, and brings her boyfriend besides – though you're like a son to me too, Aang. It's really a shame Sokka couldn't be here, or the rest of your friends, but we plan on celebrating this occasion anyway! The village has been hard at work putting together a feast for you, and since you're the guests of honor we'd love it if you'd hold off on going back to join in! Don't worry, we've already packed a care package for Sokka so he doesn't feel left out."

Aang and Katara sported mirrored grins. "This is great!" Aang cheered. "We get to kick some pirate butt, have a whole peaceful afternoon to ourselves, _and_ get to go to a feast! Wait 'til I tell the others about this!"

Suddenly Aang shivered as a feeling at horrible otherworldly foreboding shuddered down his spine. "T-then again… on second thought… maybe we shouldn't tell the others…"

Katara raised an eyebrow curiously. "Huh? Why?"

"I dunno," Aang said as he shook himself off, trying to throw off his shudders. "I just… got a bad feeling."

"That's silly…" she replied, but at that moment she shuddered as well. "But… on the other hand, suddenly I feel it too! You're right, let's leave this part out…"

"Sounds good to me…"

And at that, they left to enjoy the perfect end to a perfect visit together.

**Meanwhile, Not Enjoying A Feast**

Sokka silently thanked Suki for what felt like the twelfth time as he finally made it to the ship's deck – if this had happened months ago he never would have been able to scale the side of a ship this large without being detected, let alone without breaking a sweat, but with Suki's training it was almost easy. Almost. He chuckled – he could hardly believe now that when he had first met the young warrior he had looked down on her because she was a girl. It just went to show how much his journey had changed him for the better.

Peeking over the edge, he made most of the crewmen were either looking away or would be unlikely to notice him and, waiting patiently for the opportune moment, rolled onto the deck. Some of the nearby pirates turned at the sudden - if faint - sound, but the disguise he had stolen from the first pirate worked like a charm. With his baggy clothes and properly tilted had the other pirates would fail to notice his armor or unfamiliar stature, at least not unless they got close – which Sokka was not about to let them do. As carefully as he could, Sokka inched towards the suspended net holding Zuko's captured comrades while making sure not to get to close to anyone – a difficult task to do while trying to remain nonchalant.

As he got to the prisoners he looked back and forth to make sure no one was around or watching him especially close and then pretended to check the rope. While keeping his lips as motionless as he could, he then signaled the closest soldier out of the corner of his mouth.

"Hey…" he whispered. "You're the Fire Lord's elite guard, right?"

The soldiers who had heard glared at him. "So we are. What is it to you, pirate?"

Sokka grinned. "I'm no pirate…" he lifted his hat slightly to show his cowled and armored face. "I'm the cavalry."

"Ah yes…" the closest soldier mused. "You must be the agent the Fire Lord took on recently. Wolfbatman, was it?"

"That's me…" He gave a slight nod of his head in place of a dignified bow. "What did they do with the Fire Lord?"

"They took him below deck," the soldier grunted.

Sokka nodded and once again looked back and forth to check for watchers. Again satisfied that he wasn't being watched, Sokka pulled out his batarang and began using the sharp end to weaken the ropes. "You fellows ready to get some payback?"

The soldier smiled wickedly. "Oh, yes…"

"Great… I'll need a bit of a distraction to get to Lord Zuko, but if what I've heard of you is correct…" Sokka trailed off. Zuko had given everyone involved in the plan a very flattering description of the elite guard, describing them as master firebenders one and all who could even give him pause, with all of his training from the ancient masters and his Uncle. And the fact that they had been taken out of the fight without ever entering it, by what Sokka was sure they would consider a fluke, was not likely to encourage them to hold anything back.

The soldier's smile became a full blown grin. "Distraction is an understatement. An insult, in fact. These filthy pirates won't know what his them."

Sokka smirked. "Perfect. Just give me a couple seconds headstart."

He cut the ropes in strategic places, making sure they wouldn't fall apart ahead of time, and then after one last nod took off running for the door below deck.

The pirates he passed turned in alarm in confusion while some further on looked as though they were preparing to stop and question him, but he ignored them until he got about half-way there. Then he screamed at the top of his lungs: "RAISE THE ALARM! THE PRISONERS ARE FREE!"

Behind him he heard a thud, and the more-satisfying-than-he-expected sound of firebending (with the addition of what sounded like maniacally vengeful laughter). _It's a lot better when they're not trying to roast __**you**__ with that stuff,_ he concluded amidst his own faint chuckle.

The pirates around him began to panic almost immediately. Much to his hidden glee they all abandoned their posts to deal with the threat… which soon became a double threat as Lanai's men took their cue and climbed aboard deck to join the fray. It was pandemonium, just as planned. Sokka easily slipped past the panicked pirates up to the door's guard, a large man with long but slightly burnt hair (Sokka made a mental note ask Zuko about that later) who to his credit was keeping his post despite the absolutely terrified look on his place. Luckily, Sokka thought fast.

"What are you doing?" he shouted, making sure to keep his hat tipped so that the guard wouldn't see his face. "Can't you see they're getting killed out there?" He made a panicked gesture for good measure.

The guard took the bait perfectly. It only took him a moment to think about it before he made to enter the fight, but Sokka never gave him the chance: as he passed by Sokka deftly slammed his elbow against the back of the man's head, knocking him out

Then with one more look back to make sure the situation was going as he wanted he snuck through the door.

**Below Deck**

The next few minutes of Zuko's "banquet" with Penguin had passed with no deficiency of awkward silence. Penguin, evidently not wanting to risk losing his temper again, did not start any further conversation and instead took to watching his captive carefully. This suited Zuko just fine, as he had no interest in talking. At first he had eaten very little under the assumption that some of the food was poisoned despite Penguin's claims, but after seeing Penguin eat some he had decided there was little harm in it.

And so it went for a long time – Zuko eating with mock politeness while trying to think of a way out of this mess, Penguin glaring at him knowing he would inevitably try something, and the tension rising ever higher. And then, just when Zuko thought things would be come so agitated that something would explode… something did. Above deck.

It was less of an explosion than a thud, actually, but even through the walls Zuko recognized the sweet sounds of bended flame come right after. It seemed that someone, be it Sokka, his guard, or both, had made their move.

"What the devil?" Penguin shouted. He rushed over to the door and pressed his ear to it – not that he needed to: Zuko could hear the sounds of scuffling and running even from his seat. Penguin snarled, obviously not pleased with what he heard, and reached into a bin next to the door for what looked like an ordinary umbrella – much to Zuko's confusion.

It was an odd sight: Penguin huddled next to the door waiting while brandishing an umbrella of all things, but Zuko could tell there was more to this. Sure enough, as the sounds of someone approaching the door grew, Penguin raised the umbrella and Zuko could see the glint of a blade hidden

Unfortunately for Penguin, in his hurry he stood on the wrong side of the door, which flew open and slammed into him knocking him to the ground. In rushed Wolfbatman, who did no notice what he had done at all.

"Zuko!" He shouted as soon as he saw him. Immediately he rushed over and grabbed Zuko shackles, which with the help of his sword and some leverage were broken quickly. Zuko smiled slightly and gestured to the recovering pirate king next to the door.

"So, this is the so-called Penguin, huh?" Wolfbatman said with utter disdain. "Did anyone tell you that name isn't all that threatening? Though I suppose simply 'Penguin' beats Otter-Penguin..."

The Penguin spluttered as his rose to his feet. His parasol had flown from his hands, but without missing a beat he grabbed another one from the rack and pointed it at them. This one didn't seem to have a blade in it, but the enraged look in his eye betrayed danger regardless. "You hit me in the face, you blundering oaf!"

"Sorry about that," Wolfbatman said flippantly. "Or I would be, if you hadn't kidnapped the Fire Lord. Now give yourself up."

"Ha!" Penguin's face contorted into a very deranged smile. "Do you think this is the end? Suppose you were right, _milord_-" he glaced at Zuko, whose eyes narrowed. "Perhaps I was hired for this job by some greater power. If that were the case, I'd be careful if I were you. My part in this is done, I'd wager, but yours… you and everything you wish to protect should feel very afraid…"

Zuko look showed total control over the situation and his emotions, and it was with barely any worry that he regarded this threat. "Hrm… I'll have to inform Chon to keep the Earth King under closer watch. Not to mention send an emissary to- what's your problem, pirate?"

This question was directed as Penguin, as for some reason he had given a surprised jerk. It only took a moment to compose himself, but Zuko and Wolfbatman still clearly noticed. Instead of answering immediately, however, Penguin began to give an odd laugh. "Waugh… waugh waugh waugh… you still think this is concerns the Earth King? Ha!"

The Fire Lord and Wolfbatman both frowned deeply. "And whom does it concern, then?"

"You figure it out!" Penguin shouted. In a sudden movement, Penguin pressed a button on his umbrella and bolted for the door. A spray of what looked like water shot out the tip of the parasol, covering both heroes. Wolfbatman felt no worse for the wear, but when Zuko attempted to stop Penguin with firebending he found his flames turned to smoke in the the air.

Penguin's final taunt as he rounded the corner cleared up the confustion: "No flames for you today, Firelord – I've found that this particular liquid tends to disrupt fire in the air around it… perfect for my escape!"

Zuko growled, and took off in a run. "Come on! After him!"

Much to his surprise, his companion smirked and instead walked very calmly towards the upper deck. "No need," he said, "he's not heading into the best of situations."

And indeed, Penguin had run topside to find that the entire deck was secured by the elite guard and Lanai's men. By the time Zuko and Wolfbatman caught up, Penguin had already been tied up and his men detained – at least, the ones that did not try to escape by jumping overboard. Penguin said nothing but instead glared murderously at his captors, who had a nice, long relieved laugh at their success (and at one of the guard's attempts to stop Lanai from approaching Penguin with a particularly deadly looking cannonball).

So great was the celebratory mood that nobody noticed that, sometime after the Fire Lord's order to commandeer the ship and turn it to aid Sokka, Toph and Suki, Wolfbatman seemed to disappear. And in fact, by the time they came up behind the very surprised pirates laying siege to their allies' island holdout the masked warrior had vanished without a trace.

The soldiers' mirth continued to long after they had relieved the Fire Lord's tired comrades, as they took the opportunity to have a good-natured laugh at the situation they found themselves in. Sokka, their leader, had even been forced into a splint by the others and was sweating profusely for some reason, and they momentarily forgot that they themselves had been in a similarly harrowing situation not long ago. It wasn't until Sokka had curiously asked who saved them that they realized their rescuer was nowhere to be found.

They eventually concluded that he was off hiding wherever he had been while on the way to the attack, and dropped the issue. No one noticed how suspiciously silent the Fire Lord was about the whole thing, or the smirking glance exchanged between him and Sokka.

No, the only thing anyone was thinking about as the adventure drew to a close was how satisfying victory could be.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> This note going to be brief. Anyway, told you this was very direct. If this chapter seems in any way rushed, poor continuously or if it seems to end poorly, blame it on the fact that I really wanted to get this done and didn't quite care about how I did it. I've been dealing with real life at the moment, and didn't realize I'd let this one lie until someone sent me a review the other day saying it was a shame I abandoned it. Oopsie. More, including a rant in the next chapter.

No epilogue this time, so I'll give you the "next time..." bit now.

There's something afoot, that's for sure, but exactly what it is... our heroes have no way of knowing. They'll need to to some serious investigating, but first they have a play to attend! **The Play's The Thing** next time on Wolfbatman, and it's definitely not going to be your average performance.


	15. Interlude: The Play's The Thing

**Disclaimer: **Avatar characters not owned by me, Batman elements not owned by me. Etc, etc.

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><p><strong>Interlude - The Play Is The Thing<strong>

Despite everyone's best efforts and arguments they could come up with to avert their horrible fate, Zuko would not be shaken. There was no avoiding it. They had no choice in the matter. They were all still going to attend the play on Ember Island on top of everything they had just gone through.

They tried every reason in the book to not go: there could still be a trap on the island, even though the pirates in the sea were taken care of; they should be focusing on imprisoning Penguin and his thugs; they should be preparing to greet Katara and Aang when they returned; they should be focusing on tempering the Fire Nation's reaction to there being an _open and brazen attack on their leader;_ they even tried the real, most important reason: that they really, _really_ did not want to go, but Zuko remained unmoved. Even though it was a trap, he had said, the Earth King had still genuinely wanted to see the play and it would be ungracious of him not to accompany him, even if he really didn't want to see the play either.

And thus there they were sitting in the front row, looking quite disgruntled. So if they acted a bit colder to Zuko, or the Earth King when he arrived (with Mai - who looked as miserable as they did – Ty Lee and Jin, who were otherwise totally oblivious to their sourness. Iroh had weaseled out of it by pretending to be sick), it was of no surprise – at least, not to Zuko.

To their slight surprise, however, the play was not so bad – at least not the parts they had seen so far. It had been done by a different troupe then the Ember Island Players, and it showed. Certainly there was drama, but not quite as much ridiculous exaggeration. At the very least they could watch it without cringing every couple of seconds or so.

The play was entirely about Azula, how she rose to power and the inevitable showdown between her and Zuko – a play written totally around the villain. Though it showed some earlier events like the takeover of the Earth Kingdom capital – which the Earth King surprisingly enough found to be very entertaining drama – the play truly began during the Day of the Black Sun. Aang only barely factored into the plot – Zuko explained that he was being portrayed "symbolically," and the actor (thankfully not actress this time) playing him was almost always just offscreen on in shadow. Katara on the other hand was very prominent – in fact, she appeared fighting against Azula in situations where she wasn't even present. They appeared to be setting up some kind of extreme rivalry between them in order to frame Katara being the one to finally defeat Azula.

Sokka and the others, however, were _almost_ totally non-present. Perhaps having been told that the man himself was in the audience just before the show, the troupe had hurriedly thrown in a line identifying Sokka as one of the generic Water Nation warriors during the Day Of The Black Sun, otherwise played by a large burly actor who looked nothing like him and grunted in response. The others found it ludicrously funny.

Beyond that, Toph did not appear at all – something she considered to be a total travesty – and Suki only appeared in regards to the incident at Boiling Rock

Instead, the majority of the play featured Azula, Zuko, Ozai, Mai and Ty Lee… Mai and Ty Lee got to watch with some mix of satisfaction, sadness and pity as they betrayed and were abandoned by Azula at Boiling Rock, a scene whch brought back some memories and feelings they were trying not to think about –especially in Mai's case. It was, after all, hard to imagine that they were once friends, however fearful, with the deranged girl.

Zuko, however, was drawn to Mai Da-Li, the young actress playing Azula herself. In short, she was phenomenal. If he didn't know better – her face and height were wrong, for instance – he would have thought that really was Azula up there: her actions, her expressions, her body language, all of it was spot on.

After the Boiling Rock incident the play took it's customary intermission and Zuko suggested that the gang visit backstage (as Fire Lord, he was allowed to do such things), in part because he wanted to make absolutely sure that the actress wasn't really Azula in some kind of disguise. He was pleasantly relieved when this turned out not to be the case. In fact she was very much Azula's opposite.

She nearly fell over herself when she saw the group approaching. "F-fire L-lord Zuko! Lady Mai!" She stammered in a flustered mix between surprise and embarrassment as they approached. She stumbled into a very nervous bow. "This is an honor! I hope I did not offend you with my performance."

Several of the other actors walked up to join her, some of them looking just as nervous as she was but many others looking calm and confident, including a non-actor that the others assumed was the producer or director. "We're all honored by your presences," he said in a calm but very gracious voice, putting his hand on the actress' shoulder to calm her. "I hope you are enjoying the show?"

"Could'a had me in it," Toph grunted, though she was only teasing. The producer smiled and bowed respectfully.

"We apologize, Lady Bei Fong, but we wanted to focus on those most important to the story of Ex-Princess Azula's downfall. Your battle with the Fire Lord, for instance, is totally omitted in favor her Agni Kai with Lord Zuko and subsequent defeat by Lady Katara. I am somewhat disappointed she is not here to see the show, in fact…"

"Yeah, that's all well and good," Sokka pouted. "But what about me! I was at Boiling Rock, _and_ I planned the Black Sun invasion! I'm actually important!" Toph punched him in the arm, but he ignored it.

For the first time, the producer looked somewhat embarrassed. "Erm… my apologies Lord Sokka, but we… er… forgot about you… I promise we'll fix that in future performances."

Everyone laughed except Sokka of course: more pouting from his end.

Zuko smiled at the group. "I'm glad you are all so good natured about this. The Ember Island players, if you don't mind me saying so, were a bunch of primadonnas."

"Ah yes!" The producer grinned. "We consider ourselves not a group of actors, but a family. We raised young Mai here," he gestured to Azula's actress, "to have the theatre in her soul ever since she was a child, and she is by far our greatest pupil. She's destined for great things, I'd bet."

The actress blushed deeply and looked nervously at Zuko and Mai, who gave her encouraging looks. Mai even gave her a rare smile.

"It was an extraordinary performance, to be sure," Zuko said. "I'm looking forward to the second half."

"Oh, you have a lot to be looking forward to…"

They spent the next few minutes talking about the upcoming plot, having lighthearted discussions about the way of the kingdom, and in general getting to know each other. The gang got to meet every member of the troupe – Sokka getting a very amusing meeting with the actress playing Katara (who actually tried to flirt with him, much to his disgust and a mix between amusement and irritation from Suki and Toph) – except for one actress: the understudy for the part of Azula, Li Mou, who for some reason had been unable to be there that day.

They were almost disappointed that the intermission had to end, the Zuko promised to treat the troupe to a dinner at the palace for their trouble. As the second half began, he was considerably more at ease than when the first half had ended.

The other half was the most compelling part yet. Instead of a series of events, it was a group of monologues and dialogues. The group had obviously done it's research, because everyone Azula had banished in her growing madness got even the briefest of scenes – nearly every servant in the castle – and her gradual breakdown increased in drama as her inevitable failure approached. They had heard rumors that she had had hallucinations, but as no one had been told what they were hallucinations of, exactly, they filled the blanks with characters like Zuko, Ozai and even the Avatar, who again appeared in shadow.

The final battle was tense and powerful, from Zuko and Katara's dramatic appearance to the Agni Kai slowly going in her Zuko's favor, to her attempt to cheat and Zuko's sacrifice. It concluded with Katara's final defeat of the princess and her total meltdown, all on stage.

The final scene of the play featured Da-Li on stage alone, in fake shackles as if in a prison cell, breaking down as she portrayed Azula as an insane wreck. It was heartbreaking for Zuko and Mai, who had to see that in reality, and even Suki – who had the last amount of pity for Azula of anyone – felt a little bad for her.

The scene was almost done, there were just some final words from the actress and then the whole troupe would come out for applause. Zuko was just preparing to give his standing ovation and then…

Laughter.

Wild, chilling laughter. Not coming from the stage, but emanating throughout the theatre. Zuko's blood went cold.

"No…" Sokka whispered in terror. "It couldn't be."

"What is it?" asked Suki, who had not been at the ceremony that day.

"I know that voice…" came Toph's uneasy reply.

Zuko turned to Chon and very quickly muttered to him: "Chon, I'm going to need you to-"

And then it was too late, because the laughter had turned into a high, cruel voice. "Pitiful story isn't it?" It echoed, such that no one could tell where it was coming from. Da-Li had since broken character, and was looking frantically around the theatre trying to figure out what was going on. "The neurotic, power hungry princess falls to madness and becomes a twisted, gibbering wreck. Downright pathetic… but they don't tell you what comes after, do they?"

And then from above the stage dropped a figure with bleached white skin, green hair and gaudy purple robes: Azula, now the Joker, who turned and leered at the now terrified Da-Li.

The audience applauded, obviously not realizing that this was not a scripted event. Da-Li turned and frantically pleaded to the audience, her face one of pure panic. "P-please! This isn't part of the show. T-this is real! Someone, help!"

"Oh, now you're ruining the performance!" Azula chided, pulling some kind of vial out of her robes. The gang was all frozen in their seats, trying to think of how best to deal with this without harming anyone. "You shouldn't break character, you know. Now I'll have to teach you a lesson… maybe even give you some real perspective on how to be me!"

Suddenly, Azula threw the vial at Da-Li's feet, releasing some kind of greenish gas… and Da-Li made the worse mistake she could have: she gasped. Before everyone's eyes she stiffened in shock and then fell to the ground shaking and twwisting in a ghastly and terrifying seizure. And the worst part: she made no sound whatsoever, and her face blank and toneless.

The effect was instantaneous, suddenly the crowd that had been cheering a moment ago was running and screaming in terror, and the Earth King could be heard to mutter a weary "oh… not again," as Chon rushed to get him to safety, with Jin following close behind. On the other hand, the group was lucky they were in the front row or they could've been trampled as they made their way towards the stage.

Azula, however, looked disappointed. "Hmm… that's not what was supposed to happen at all. Curse that idiot I got to make this stuff. It's a real shame he died or I'd've made him pay for that..."

"What have you done…" came a voice behind her, and she turned to find Zuko landing on the stage, the others not far behind.

She smirked. "Oh, you know me. Just spreading joy and smiles wherever I go."

Zuko looked around - at Da-Li's still faintly moving body, to just offstage where the producer and the other actors watched tearfully – and the more he saw the more his stomach twisted in anger. "Does that look like a smile to you, Azula?" He growled, gesturing to the unconscious but hopefully still living actress.

"It was supposed to be," she said flippantly, with a wave of her hand as if the whole situation was nothing. "Attack the nervous system but leave the victim with a nice, big smile. Good idea for a calling card, don't you think? Too bad this one didn't work – and the guy I got it from had some kind of accident, not my fault this time, so I can't even get a refund. This pathetic waste is just sad, really." She too gestured to the prone actress, in a way that made Zuko even more furious, and he heard some angry growls coming from behind him as well. "And by the way, I'm thinking of going by 'Joker' these days. I think it fits, don't you?"

Zuko looked offstage and saw that the producer had also gone into a rage with that last line, and in fact was charging on stage towards Azula. She hadn't noticed him yet, which Zuko knew would quickly be the only reason why the man was still breathing – he glanced as Sokka, who took the hint immediately and charged at Azula as well, who dodged a very telegraphed punch and smirked.

"Ha! A little weak for an opening attack, isn't it?" The turned to the young warrior to see him standing in front of the producer, pushing him back while simultaneously protecting him from another attack. "Oh, I get it… trying to protect the innocent bystanders, huh? Well, who's going to protect _you_ from _me?_"

She laughed again, but Toph shot a laugh right back at her – much less mirthfully and a lot more hateful. "Maybe you should learn to count Azula – oh, I'm sorry, : there's six of us and only one of you. I think you're the one who needs protection."

Azula continued to smile. "Well, let's think about this. One, this theatre is made of wood, if you remember… can't you even feel any earth to bend through the building?" Toph resisted the urge to flinch. She had mostly been following Sokka through the theatre, and though there was some stone in the theatre (and she had her jar of dirt) she was acting on sound alone, and Azula knew it. "Not only that," Azula continued, "but peasant boy over there doesn't have any weapons, I'd bet, so he's useless." Sokka scowled. "Neither did the oh, so easily defeated Kyoshi Warrior or my old friend over there, so it's really just me and Zuko. And plus, _who says I didn't bring protection?_"

At that moment some kind of ball dropped onto the stage, and a moment later there was a flash as it exploded in a burst of flame, causing everyone to step back. Azula, however, stood there amidst the fire, grinning evilly. Up above, a trio of heavily armed mercenaries stood by and took aim with a satchel of bombs, just waiting for Azula to give them another cue.

Zuko looked back at his friends and took a moment to regroup: "is it true you don't have any weapons?" He asked Suki, already knowing the answer.

"Well, yes. But I don't need any," she said with utmost determination. "Neither does Sokka or Ty Lee." She glanced at her boyfriend, who was separated from them by Azula and the fire, and allowed herself a small smile as she saw him pulling the still unconscious Da-Li offstage.

"She was right about me," Toph grumbled ruefully as she pulled herself up from the ground – she had been the only one to fall over. "I brought along some Earth I can bend myself, but I have no way to 'see.' I'm... sigh… not very useful right now. You'll all have to have all the fun on your own – try to save me something to pound on later." She smirked, and Zuko returned it. Then his expression grew somber as he turned to their last member.

"And Mai…"

She abruptly cut him off: "I _always_ have something on me, I don't know why you all don't." She reached into her hair and pulled out some long metal pins, causing her buns to fall. Then she reached into her robes and pulled out several more. "So don't even think about asking me to sit this one out, Zuko."

Suddenly, another ball fell from above and landed in between them. In a flash, Ty Lee ran forward and kicked it into the now empty seats, where it exploded in a blaze. "Whew," she sighed, "those things can really ruin your aura. Hehe..."

"No time for jokes," Zuko whispered, "Suki, Ty Lee… Mai… I need you up there to take those assassins down."

Suki and Ty Lee nodded and took of towards offstage immediately – the stagehands still around were very eager to help them find their way. Mai, however, did not move and shot Zuko a fierce glare. "No." She said firmly. "I want a piece of Azula, and I'm not about to be taken out of the-"

"Mai!" Zuko said, cutting her off (which he knew he would probably pay for later). "I need you up there. First, you three are the ones most effective at taking them on in that situation, and second…" he smirked. "… there are worse things than having a vantage point in this situation."

Mai smiled, catching on to what Zuko was getting at. "Alright, you win… just this once." She nodded and took off after Suki and Ty Lee. Satisfied that things would work out, he turned back to Azula and immediately saw why they hadn't been interrupted further. Azula had apparently tried to attack them, but Sokka had stopped her and they were now in the midst of a pitched battle.

Well, pitched battle in the sense that Azula was cackling like a maniac and filling the air with flames while Sokka was trying like mad to avoid them. The assassins had focused all of their attention on Sokka at the moment, so he not only had to avoid Azula's fire but also either leap over or kick away the bombs whenever he ran across one. And so far he was still alive but looked very out of breath. Zuko looked to the side and noticed Toph, who had immediately given up on discerning where Azula was and instead was focusing on the sounds of the bombs as they hit the floor and was attempting to knock as many of them away as she could.

Zuko decided to give them some help. A burst of his own red fire caught Azula unawares, and as she tumbled to the ground he rushed over to his friend. "How're you holding up, Sokka."

"Fine, just fine. I had it totally handled." Sarcasm – something Zuko could understand. "No Wolfbatman this time… though… it's a little tough without, y'know…"

Zuko nodded. "We've got her now, though. I've got an ace up my sleeve but we have to use it when we're sure we can win. So let's-"

He was interrupted as a purple rush dove into him and tackled him to the ground. "Oh, Zuzu!" Azula laughed. "I forgot about you! My apologies." She raised her hand so as to burn him directly in the unscarred side of his face, but was knocked away by a kick from Sokka. As Zuko got to his feet, Sokka continued to launch strikes at her – some she dodged, others which hit home, but most of all the flurry prevented her from counter attacking.

Azula, however, seemed more interested in studying Sokka than in retaliating. "Hmm… interesting. Not a bad style, peasant," she smirked, "I think you need a sword, though. Maybe a little armor…"

Sokka froze for the briefest moment. _She doesn't mean…_ he thought _…nah, couldn't be…_

Unfortunately, Azula took that brief moment to get in an attack of her own and Sokka soon flew back with a burst of flame, directly into Zuko. "Hahahahaha… you two, such fools! I'd be doing the world a favor if I'd just-" A large stone to the face stopped whatever she was about to say.

Toph wasted no time in gloating. "You know, when you do all that laughing like an idiot it makes it really easy to tell where you are!" Toph grinned, inwardly hoping her words got Azula angry enough to start making mistakes. "Y'know, we just saw the play, and I think that maybe all this clown stuff is just compensation for the pathetic life you had before! It makes so much sense that you want to go by Joker now, since all I see right is a one big fat joke!"

Azula slowly rose to her feet, still with her usual smile and carefully jovial composure… but her eyes betrayed a cold fury. "You know… perhaps you're right!" she said with a surprising, dangerous loftiness. "Perhaps, alas, this is all just a desperate cry for help. Perhaps all Joker needs is some understanding… or maybe just a little payback." Her grin turned wide and wicked and she pulled her arms back in an enormous burst of flame. Toph, unable to see or adequately navigate herself, had nowhere to go…

"No! Not today!" Came an angry shout, and Azula was suddenly struck by two different attacks at the same time – the first, a shot to the stomach by way of the Southern Water tribe, knocking all the wind out of her. The second: a punch propelled by firebending, sending her rocketing through the air on a jet of flame. She hurtled across the stage, bounced sharply against the stage floor and landed with a heap on the ground.

"Agh…" she groaned, slowly trying to make it to her feet. "You…" Her hands burned with flame even as she doubled over in pain… but only for another second before Zuko pulled out a vial of his own and tossed it onto the floor. As soon as it burst open, the air seemed full of some kind of watery mist and Azula's fire went out.

"I borrowed this from Penguin," Zuko explained to Sokka's blank look, "not bad stuff, but since it would've stopped me from firebending around here I didn't want to use it until we had her."

To no one's surprise, Azula laughed. "So this is me defeated, is it?" She coughed painfully, but maintained her grin as best she could. "Have you already forgotten about my-"

There were a trio of thuds as the three mercenaries fell from above in succession and landed on the stage, as if on cue.

"-hench…men… huh… I wondered why they weren't helping out. Well, I-"

There was a flitter of motion in the air and a moment later Azula's left arm was fell, having had a long, sharp pin stick her robes to the ground. Two more flitters shot past, and both of her legs were pinned to the stage floor as well.

Mai's voice carried in from somewhere above. "One false move, Azula… one false move and the next one goes through your head. As much as I want to make you pay for what you've done today, I think it might be even worse to let you rot in that cell of yours – not one deserves that more than you do."

Azula gave a mix between a grunt and an irritated chuckle. "I thought I told you to call me Joker_…"_

"I say do it…" Came a new voice – the producer's. With Sokka not paying attention to him any more, he had managed to sneak onto the stage. "For what she's done…"

The others looked somberly at him, even Toph, who couldn't really see him. There was a moment of sad silence, infuriatingly interrupted by Azula's laughter.

Her eyes flitted around uneasily, but the look in them still showed some measure of confidence. "Heh… that's the old cruel streak. I knew you still had it in you, Mai. Too bad 'true love' or somesuch nonsense has taken that out of you. And you, Mr. Surrogate Father. Bravo! Let that monstrous anger free!"

The producer seethed with anger and for a moment looked like he was going to strike Azula down himself, but backed down. "No… I… you're not worth it…"

"How is she?" Zuko asked tentatively.

"She's… alive. But she's totally unresponsive. I don't know…"

Azula laughed her cruel laugh once again. "Hehehe, not bad. Now if it only gave out the smiles I wanted it to. Oh, well… it'll have to do!" In a surprisingly quick motion, Azula used her free hand to pull out another vial from her robes – this time easily three times as large as the last one. The others all took a step back, except Toph who did not see. "Yes, that's right! Back up! Won't do you any good… this is enough to fill the whole stage once it shatters, I think. I drop this and _all of us_ end up like the vegetable over there! You hear that up there, Mai?" She hollered to the rafters. "You'd better back off!"

Toph was now backing up as well, but a lot more slowly as she did not know where she was going. Zuko raised his hands in an attempt to stave Azula off: "Azula… don't-

"Oh, now what did I just say to Mai?" Her smirk had returned, and there were a definite gloat in her voice. "Your Mai, not the one currently lacking any higher brain functions. Perhaps I should break it anyway, just to teach you what my name is! In fact, I think I'll do it!"

"No!" Zuko shouted, but he was too late. He gestured for everyone to get down as Azula threw the vial down to the ground. There was a sharp hissing sound and right away the air was full of purple smoke. Zuko fell to the floor and covered his mouth, but Sokka, whose first thought was to get to Toph as she could not see what was going on, took the full blast of it. Soon the air was full of coughing…

_Wait…_ Zuko thought. _Purple smoke? Coughing? The gas she used earlier was green, and Da-Li didn't cough at all…_

Zuko took the chance that this new smoke has displaced some of Penguin's anti-firebending mist and tried for some flames. Much to his very limited delight, he was able to generate a large burst of fire, which heated the air and caused the smoke to disperse. Sure, no one was suffering from the same effects Mai Da-Li had, though Sokka and Toph, who had not been able to cover their mouths, were in the middle of coughing fits.

And Azula was nowhere to be found.

"A smoke (cough) bomb." Sokka wheezed.

"Trickery…" Zuko said solemnly.

"I'm gonna kill her… (cough)," Toph's supposedly intimidating threat was undercut somewhat by the fact that she was still coughing up purple smoke. "How did she get away?"

The producer and several of the actors rushed on stage, most of them wiping off the tracks of their tears as the went. They moved briskly towards the spot where Azula had been – pieces of her robes were still left behind, pinned to the floor, but she had gone. But near the spot where she had been, a panel on the floor lay slightly ajar, giving a slight view of a walkway underneath.

"One of our trapdoors! Search the trap rooms, and the tunnels!" The producer shouted at one of the stagehands, who immediately ran offstage. He fell to his knees, trying to understand what was going on. "But how? How could she have known… no…" He slumped to the ground. "No, it couldn't be. Not her…"

"Oh, sir!" One of the actors in an Earth Kingdom outfit said. "You don't think…"

"She wouldn't have!" The actress who played Katara cried. "She couldn't have!"

"It explains why she wasn't here today. And how the princess knew how to sneak in and out, how she was able to get her goons up into the catwalks. Because she told her our secrets, gave her directions…"

"Who?" Zuko asked.

The response was very dark. "Li Mou."

"The understudy?"

"Yes…" the producer sighed. "I knew she had always been fiercely jealous of Mai, jealous of her success… but we never thought she would…"

"She must have helped Azula with her plan, expecting her to… take care of her…" They all looked somberly at the comatose actress, nobody knowing quite what to say or do now.

Suddenly, Zuko walked up to the producer. "I…" He stammered somewhat, but more from sadness than nervousness. "I'm sorry." He bowed low in a show of penance. The producer and the other actors looked at him in vague surprise. "If I had stopped Azula when I should have, none of this would have happened. It's my fault."

"Don't blame yourself, my boy…" the producer said softly. "It isn't your fault. If we had known what Li Mou would have done…"

All of the actors turned their heads down, unable to imagine what could have driven someone they considered to be family to do such a thing. Zuko could have sympathized if anything his father or his sister did surprised him any more. He put his hand on the producer's shoulder and addressed them all. "We'll find her. I swear it."

"I sincerely hope you do."

What followed was another night-long manhunt for Azula, fanning out from the theatre district and eventually branching out to the whole of Ember Island, with particular focus on the ferries to cut off Azula's escape. Despite Zuko getting the whole of his guard on the search there was no success until the early morning, when an old dock worker told the guard that he had sold someone in clownish garb (he assumed her to be an performer) one of his boats. Which meant a search over water when Azula could easily be anywhere – Sokka mused out loud that it was some kind of ironic, having to deal with tracking down someone who eluded them at every turn despite having an army on the case. Zuko had gotten quite a grim laugh out of it.

Two days later, the group was leaving Ember Island empty handed and largely depressed. There wasn't much conversation to be had on board, and most of them had split up while waiting for Zuko – Sokka and Suki sat on deck, comforting each other. Toph sat alone a ways away, wondering whether she should join them. Mai stood solemnly with Ty Lee, as the nimble girl took her mind of her troubles by practicing her movements. Jin was also alone, unsure of what to do as she watched the others try to deal.

Zuko had gone himself to personally apologize to the acting troupe, who seemed depressed beyond emotion. To confirm their suspicions, Li Mou had not shown up the next day and further search confirmed that she, too, had left the island. Meanwhile, Mai Da-Li was still unresponsive – her mind, it seemed, had been totally shattered, perhaps incurably. The troupe did not take this well. All of their shows for the future had been cancelled, and they seemed one more shred of bad news away from closing shop completely.

Another consequence of Azula's actions. Another thing Zuko knew was his responsibility, even if, as the producer said, it was not his fault. He walked onto his ship totally lost in thought, and as he watched Ember Island disappear into the distance hoping despite himself that he would never have to see it again.

He did, however, pledge to remember that dinner at the palace he promised to treat the troupe to. Seemed like everyone needed it.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> The first interlude (man, I'm behind schedule). Basically, these are stories that are totally self contained in a single chapter, rather than three. There's going to be a number of these littered throughout the series. This is actually one of the longer ones. I really like the way I wrote the first half of this, the second half is still alright, but didn't flow as well as the first half imo. And there's a few references to Batman characters in here, if you can find them...

Before I continue: it's recently come to my attention that my fic, which is over a year old, was a ripoff of a fic that came out a couple months ago. It was further explained to me that the Wolfbatman concepts, which come from a deviantart art gallery years older than the fic itself, were further a ripoff. I apologize for this - when I was first putting this idea together last year I should've known that other people could have come up with similar ideas in the future and planned accordingly. Moving right along...

Sarcam and poor fact checking aside, don't get me wrong: I've read the fic in question and it's really damn good - I am dead serious. This is a recommendation. I'm not going to hold a grudge against the author just because one of his fans gave me a hard time, especially when the he's been so cool about the whole thing. It's well written, always a plus, and is a pretty interesting epic story with a lot of characters very well handled and just the right amount of intrigue. It's Batman elements draw from Begins, which I'm not doing - so if you're a fan of that, check it out. He's also dealing with a few different ships than I am, so if you like those be sure to check it out. Two thumbs up.

Oh, and most importantly he's a good writer who updates promptly, while I'm a scatterbrained jerk who updates so slowly people think I've forgotten them. ;-)

So if you want an interesting, well written read, check out TrollIroh's "Romance Of War," which has a lot of different storylines running together, including one based off of Batman. As one Batman-fan to another, more power to him. And thanks to him again for being very cool about the whole thing.

Anyway - _Next Time, On Wolfbatman:_

Everyone has returned home, but danger hasn't left our heroes alone just yet. A new threat is storming up to their front door, set on revenge and total destruction. Can this horrible threat be driven back... or will our heroes have to resort to extreme measures to deal with it. It's _**A Force Of Nature,**_ next time: same Wolfbat-time, same Wolfbat-website.


	16. Forces of Nature: Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar Of Batman.**

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><p><strong>Forces Of Nature – Prologue<strong>

_Two weeks before the theatre incident_

Far into a woodland cavern, so deep one could not usually tell whether it day or night, two figures stood – one a picture fierce impatience, the other nervously shaking in the dark. There was no light to distinguish them beyond an array of dim candles which were arrayed on a shoddily arranged group of tables and tools, and there was nothing to draw attention to them beyond their silhouettes and their raised, uneasy voices. In fact, if not for their interesting conversation they might have remained unnoticed by the average explorer, being as the much more interesting area around seemed to be the quarters of someone very odd indeed.

They stood in a small but particularly crowded section of the cave: most of the furniture was arranged together, with very little of it outside of this specific portion. Splayed around it – lying on the floor or atop a table, or even merely spilled over or discarded – were various herbs, minerals or otherwise unneeded tools and materials, giving the impression of disorganization. However, the middle area told a different story: the materials lying on the center tables were meticulously placed, and the books, bowls full of mixtures, and signs of burns and corrosion suggested some kind of lab amongst the refuse.

Finally, in the corner (or what passes as a corner in the middle of a cave) there sat a small cot – unused at the moment, as its usual occupant was currently entertaining company.

"Once again, brother: I do not like this. Not at all." Said the nervous man, much smaller than his counterpart.

"You can like or dislike all you want, Ma Ku. Once again, I don't care about your suggestions – my life is bad enough already without your sniveling advice getting in my way. All I care about is results."

"That is exactly my point! You may not like the results you get if you go through with this!"

"Enough!" The taller man clenched his fists. The shorter shrunk back, as if expecting an attack – a reaction strong enough to cause his brother to check his anger. He rolled his eyes and gave a deep, irritated sigh. "Look fool, I am going to take this concoction of yours whether you agree with my doing so or not – you can either tell me where it is or watch as I tear this place apart looking for it. Now, is this it?"

The taller man reached onto a nearby table and grabbed a jar holding a purplish liquid. His companion gasped and immediately snatched it from it hands, making absolutely sure not to spill any. He carefully laid it to rest at its place on the table and, for good measure, began writing a label for it.

"That is a very experimental poison for another client of mine… another experiment I wish I were not involved in. Still in production at the moment, so do not touch it unless you want to destroy your mind any more than your lust for vengeance already has."

So deeply engrossed in his labeling was he that he didn't notice his taller companion springing forward until he had already been grabbed by the collar. There was a newfound fury sparking in tall man's eyes, accompanied by a furious snarl. "You would feel the same as I do, if you too had been humiliated by a _child._ You couldn't imagine the shame I've been dragged through. And I am going to get my due one way or another – believe that." His eyes narrowed, and he punctuated every syllable with a violent shake. "Now where. Is. It?"

The smaller man sighed and pointed towards a large vial on a table further away, which held a liquid the color and texture of blended seaweed. The tall man scrunched his nose at the sight. "That mixture will accomplish the travesty of nature you requested, but it is very strong, very concentrated and _very_ dangerous. You will only need-"

The tall man had evidently stopped listening after being shown where his prize was, as he rushed over to the table without a word and downed the whole vial in a single gulp.

"-an eighth… of what is in there… oh dear…"

There was a moment of tense silence as both men waited on bated breath, attempting to prepare as best they could for any kind of change. Moments quickly ticked by, while – thankfully, in the smaller man's eyes – nothing seemed to happen.

The larger man was nowhere near as relieved.

"Another failure, you worthless stooge! Another waste of my time! I ought to pummel you to the ground, you stupid… agght!"

Mid-threat, he suddenly began to choke and shake as a violent seizure came upon him. With a bellowing shriek he fell to his knees, trying desperately not to collapse in front of the other man but only making things worse all the while. To his credit, however, the smaller man cared nothing for what his brother saw as a show of weakness and instead rushed to his side.

"No!" He shouted. "I tried to warn you, brother! This could kill you! Stay with me!" The larger man didn't seem to hear. He only growled, putting all of his will into conquering the incredible and increasing pain, but barely holding on.

And to make matters worse, then the cave itself began to fight with him.

First it was unnoticeable: the ground rumbled slightly as he raged, and has he punched the Earth to placate himself the tables rattled. Nothing the two weren't used to. Nothing they wouldn't ignore until it was too late.

For the problem swiftly became more than mere rumbles: with a jolt the smaller man was dropped to his feet by an enormous lurch. Surprised and fearful, he looked up to see the cave walls begin to crack and splinter. The lamps fell off the tables and faded out, with only the barest of light making his brother's convulsing and now strangely _mutating_ shape visible. He immediately made the obvious connection.

"Brother! Brother, you must stop this! You are controlling far too much! You are-"

Another quake sent him reeling, and he landed badly. He winced with pain as he landed on what was now at the very least a sprained ankle, and knew he would be unable to stand. He could only look up, as the cave itself shook itself apart… and far more than that it splintered. The ceiling itself all the way up to the ground above broke, and he could see the sky as pieces formed above him. The sight was so miraculous that he barely noticed that the pieces themselves were beginning to fall toward him.

"_No!" _The small man thought, _"It is impossible! We are too far underground! This is far more power than he should have. Far more than… unless."_ His eyes widened, and he finished his thought out loud.

"It works. It really works…"

And with that last thought, the cave collapsed.

The entire mountainside fell into itself that day. Human and animal fled for miles to escape what could have easily turned into a deadly landslide or worse: a major, devastating earthquake. And after the incident, there was nothing: no grass, no trees, no anything. What had once been a thriving, peaceful grassland had become a rocky wasteland with no signs of life, except for one lying in a crater in the epicenter.

In the center of this hole, the larger man – now a great deal larger than he already was – was coming back to lucidity. With a pained daze, he looked around himself and took in the carnage that surrounded him – somehow, the falling earth had passed around him, leaving him the only thing untouched by the disaster.

"Ma Ku! Get out here, you've lost your lab you fool!" He called. There was no sign of a response. What looked like fear crossed the man's face for the first time as no sign of his companion met him. "Ma Ku? Where are you? Brother!" Panicking, he reached into the earth, which exploded with great force where he gestured and left another deep hole. For a moment he stared at his hand, surprised at his own strength, before looking into the pit he created and witnessing its effect: there at the bottom, buried mostly under dust, was a crushed form that could only be but one man.

"Brother!" He shouted. "No!" Again, he stared at his hands – for the first time realizing the extent to which he had changed. "I did this… this power I have. It's real."

A moment was spent in stunned silence, but then jarringly gave way to mild chuckling.

"It's real." He laughed, and an arrogant grin twisted across his face. "**IT'S REAL!" **He shouted to one who would likely be unable to hear him. **"MY POWER IS REAL! I CAN FINALLY HAVE MY REVENGE!"**More laughter, louder and prouder this time – though his final threat was but a whisper:

"Be ready…"

He stood and brushed himself off, for he had nothing of value left where he was. He turned to make his way towards his vengeance, but stopped for one last moment to smirk back at the hole he made.

"Rest in peace, brother. Your sacrifice will not be in vain…"

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I'm back for now. Hiatus? What hiatus?


	17. Forces Of Nature: Part 1

**Disclaimer: ****I, Obviously, Don't Own Avatar or Batman. If you didn't know before, now you do.**

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><p><strong>Forces Of Nature – Part 1<strong>

The days following the incidents both on the way to and on Ember Island were bleak. After the unsettling implications of the situation with the pirates, the depressing events at the theatre and the final insult of Azula's almost effortless escape, morale among the group was lower than it had been in a long while. Even the sun itself refused to shine it seemed, as the sky became engulfed with an endless overcast. Not even the return of an all-too-refreshed-looking Katara and Aang could lift their spirits. All the worse: after hearing the enormity of what they missed, their bright faces faded just the same as all the others.

For Sokka, the days were a monotonous cycle. Mornings and afternoons were spent arguing constantly with the enraged nobility, trying to figure out a response to the pirate threat and counter whatever forces were at work against the Fire Nation. Penguin, at least, was imprisoned within Boiling Rock, but his schemes and posturing felt like a dark omen of something more. Evenings were spent training and trying to spend as many fleeting moments with Suki as he could – in that at least he could say that we was getting a bit of happiness, despite of the current slump.

He knew that the others also tried to keep themselves occupied in their own ways. Suki was the most at peace when she was training, so she spent most of her afternoons either training herself or pushing others to do the same – Sokka, who knew the anger-abating powers of martial arts first hand, often took a few lessons from her himself. And he at least had less reason to worry about his significant other than Zuko did: Mai had taken the events in the theatre especially hard, and now spent near every waking moment either brooding or practicing with her weaponry. She could often be heard to mutter "never be caught unawares again," and had almost totally shut herself off from everyone except Zuko.

Zuko, naturally, had his own troubles. The political and tactical quagmire didn't officially end with the council meetings with him as they did with Sokka. He was swamped, surrounded and downright suffocated by stress bombarding him every minute like a tidal wave, and Sokka respected him all the more for not crumbling beneath it. Still, if not for Iroh helpingh him, he was sure Zuko might have ended up shuting himself off the same as Mai.

The only ones he knew were making do well enough were Aang, Katara and Ty Lee – Aang was often seen practicing his bending, usually with Katara, but rarely did he seem particularly depressed. In fact, if anyone knew how to stay optimistic in a stressful time, it was the Last Airbender: he could find the beauty and fun in anything, and often took Katara with him on sky-high explorations through the surrounding area. Ty-Lee often joined them when not dealing with drill-sergeant Suki, and Sokka found himself wishing he had the time to go along as well – it seemed to do wonders for Katara's worry and Ty-Lee's melancholy.

Meanwhile, he had barely seen Toph at all. He supposed she was training just like the rest of them, but he couldn't imagine where she was doing so. Katara claimed she spent a lot of time in her room as well – very un-Toph like behavior – and when she left her quarters she often simply disappeared. It was all very unsettling, and Sokka hoped she wasn't doing anything rash, like fighting in another underground Pro-Bending Circuit.

In any case, those were the feelings that led to the current day, which after the week it followed seemed more like a miracle than just another morning. The sun was shining, and the wind was just the right kind of cool. The sea, which had become tumultuous and unrelenting, was calm and inviting. It felt again like spring, and the world seemed to come alive.

The public was so happy to have a perfect day after recent news that word of unofficial festivals springing up over town began to reach the palace. Even the council was ecstatic about it, and for the first time since Sokka joined the proceedings the entire group unanimously agreed – there would be no proceedings today, and maybe not tomorrow (the official reason why was something minor and flimsy, Sokka didn't even remember it and he was sure the nobles didn't either).

Aang was naturally completely caught up in the spirit of the perfect day, and invited Katara on a quest to hit all of the street festivals in one day – he quite literally whisked her out of the palace gates the moment she said yes. Ty Lee also planned to join the festivals, but not as an onlooker: she insisted on doing her beloved acrobatic act in the town square for everyone to see, and had even "convinced" (that is, begged with enormous puppy dog eyes until she relented) Suki to be her "ringmaster." But the biggest surprise was Zuko who, taking after Aang's example, took off in the his personal airship with Mai and told them he would be back "whenever."

This left Sokka wandering around the palace grounds by himself: it wasn't yet time for Suki and Ty Lee's show, and apparently they wanted it to be a surprise so he couldn't sit in with them. Not that he minded being alone for a little while, not when he had the promise of a great performance coming up soon and a beautiful morning to for a walk.

To pass the time he strolled around the grounds, taking in the various bits of grandeur that littered the area. He honestly wasn't sure which was more extravagant, the Fire Nation or the Northern Water Tribe, and began to feel homesick for his nice, humble home back in the Southern village. He certainly wouldn't have to deal with political intrigue there, nor all the subterfuge and red tape anyone in this kingdom had to go through to get anything done. But he supposed that why it was here, and not back home, where he needed to be most of all.

While caught up in his thoughts his long stroll found him wandering back into the official outdoor military training areas, and to his incredible surprise he found Toph there practicing her earthbending. It seemed like he hadn't seen her in days – in truth, he probably hadn't.

"Toph!" He called, and she turned slightly to let him know she acknowledged him – she had of course noticed him already. He always forgot she could do that. "What are you doing out here, I thought you'd be holed up in your secret hideaway again."

She smirked. "Well, it's a nice day so I decided to get out. I_ am_ allowed to do that, aren't I? I can feel the sun on my face for once, though I'm not the biggest fan of this wind. Reminds me of trying to deal with twinkletoes' airbending."

"Ah, don't be such a curmudgeon, chum. We've been-"

"Wait… chum?" Toph raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Yeah, I heard some of the nobles use it. Makes me sound posh, eh?"

Toph was clearly laughing now. "Posh?'

Sokka sagged his shoulders and frowned. "Can we just drop it?" Toph continued to laugh, but at least acknowledged that he was trying to say something important. "I was trying to say that we've been a bit worried about you. Where have you been disappearing off to?"

Toph's laughter died. She looked away evasively. "I've been… working on some new stuff. Practicing, mostly. Nothing to get worried about."

"Then why haven't you been doing it out here – it hasn't been _that_ bad out, has it?"

"Well no, but… to be honest…" Toph grimaced, and looked around herself – a show, as he knew she was really using her earthbending to scan the area. "Sometimes when I practice up here, I feel like I'm being watched. Like someone's spying on me. It's… creepy."

Now it was Sokka's turn to look around nervously. "Really?" He asked. "But who could sneak up on you?"

"Not very many people," she said, though not quite with as much pride as he was used to. "I guess it was probably nerves or my mind playing tricks on me. After everything, I guess I'm a little on edge."

"We all are, Toph. But today's practically a day off. You should relax, like me! I'm going to go off to the zoo to imagine what all the different kinds of meat taste like before Suki and Ty Lee's show. You should do something you really want to do too!"

Toph laughed at the image of Sokka wandering around a zoo drooling like a kid in a candy store, but allowed herself a long thought about what he said. _Maybe I could crash a feast or something, or find some mountain to climb._ "Yeah, I think I'll do just that, Sokka."

"There we go! Good talk!"

"Yeah, right. '_Chum._'"

"Hey, I thought we agreed to drop it!"

**Meanwhile, A Long Ways From The Capital**

Farmer Ro Chai, owner of a sizable plot of land and fervent lover of fire-corn, had not yet heard the news of the impromptu vacation the people of the capital were taking that day. It took quite a while for such things to reach his home, far from the center of the Kingdom as he was. Yet the spirit of the day reached him regardless: in an unprecedented move, he let his daughter go down to the river with her friends that morning, instead of forcing her to spend all day with him tending the fields as always.

Even he was joining in the blissful feeling the morning air was giving everyone. Somehow he had ended up leaning under a tree giving his ostrich horse a rest, and daydreaming like he had always chided his daughter for rather than working like he ought to have been. But no matter, he wasn't feeling the urge to stop anytime soon anyways – and a few more minutes never hurt anyone.

Unfortunately, he was proven wrong a few moments later. Somehow, the sturdy tree beneath him disappeared out of nowhere, sending him falling roughly to the ground. He sat up quickly – half-angry, half-confused – and looked wildly about for the reason for his sudden fall.

"What in the heck? How… did that… happen…" He trailed off as he found himself caught in a very different shadow than the one he had been leaning in before: that of an enormous figure, effortlessly holding the entire tree in one hand as if it were nothing.

"This seems like as good enough a line in the sand as any… so to speak." The figure murmured, having apparently not noticed the farmer yet. Ro Chai stumbled back in preparation to run before the figure finally turned his eye on him, but he was too late.

"You!" The figure's voice boomed, and Ro Chai's face went pale with fright. "Take your fastest ostrich-horse and send a message to the Capital. Find the Avatar and his merry band of traitors and runaways. Tell them an old friend wants to have a little reunion, and that if they don't show I'll have to take my disappointment out on this fair countryside. Granted, I'd probably be doing the world a favor after what you Fire Nation sheep got up to for the last hundred years."

"B-but the capital is so far!" Ro Chai protested. "It could take me hours to get there! I-I can't just-"

This was the wrong thing to say. The man snarled in rage and threw his arm up in the direction of Ro Chai's homestead. To Ro Chai's horror, the earth around his home exploded. This livelihood – _the entire building –_ was launched several dozen feet into the air, and shattered into a million shards of wood upon hitting the ground. The animals shrieked and scattered at the sudden activity, and Ro Chai wished dearly that he could do the same.

"DO IT!" He bellowed, and Ro Chai immediately scrambled to his horse, if only to get away from whatever this…_ thing_ was. As he readied the beast with plans to run to the river, pick up his daughter and then hightail it to the Capital as fast as it's two legs could carry them, he heard the figure speak one last command behind him:

"And don't tell them what I look like, would you? I want this to be a surprise, for one or two of them in particular…"

**Meanwhile, Back At The Capital**

The street festivals started out fairly small. A few people going out in the early hours to celebrate the rising sunshine. A few more starting to take their breakfast outside to eat in the morning air. Then people started cooking in earnest and giving out extra treats to their neighbors – and once the restaurants started joining in the crowds swelled and the vendors saw their opportunity to cash in. After that, performers of all shapes and sizes came out of the woodwork, and suddenly the city was erupting in festivals all over.

This had all happened very quickly, mind. The gang only found out what was going on during their own breakfast at the palace, and by that point the festivities were already well underway. This left Aang with the impression that he had already missed out on far too much, which Katara found out the hard way meant he would be pulling her from street to street as fast as he could to compensate. Jesters, dancers and stands with assorted colorful wares sped by in a blur, yet like Aang Katara could somehow absorb everything that was going on – as if his very exuberance was allowing her to share in his wonder with him.

However, unlike the endless ball of energy that was the Avatar, she was starting to get weary of all the sensory overload. As they passed by a fountain nearby to the centre of town, she saw her chance.

"Can we rest a minute, Aang?" She sighed. "There's only so much festival a girl can take in one shot."

Aang immediately froze, a sheepish look plastered over his previously exhilarated face. He rubbed the back of his head and grinned. "Oops… sorry. Guess I got a little carried away there."

Katara smiled back at him as she sat on the edge of the fountain. "It's all right. We never got anything like this back at the Southern Water Tribe."

Aang looked up at the sky, a now wistful… yet strangely content… look gleaming in his eye. "We never had festivals like this in the Air Temples either – don't get me wrong, we had our celebrations – but nothing like this. That's why I've always loved having friends from so many different places. There's only so much you can experience if you stay in one place…"

A moment passed as Aang's words (and an overexcited Momo) drifted through the air. The two sat together enjoying a somewhat quiet instant amid all the revelry – totally unable to keep the contentment off of their faces.

When in a celebration like the one surrounding them, however, a moment like that can never last for long. Within a few minutes the crowds spread out towards the fountain, with the clowns and candy vendors following suit.

"Looks like the party is coming to us," Katara laughed, and Aang's wide grin returned.

"Looks that way."

Among those closest to the fountain was a happy if wobbly and disheveled looking man (for good reason, as he had been partying hardy since the first treats were handed out hours before). He glanced towards the fountain and stumbled towards it, with an unmistakably catlike smirk on his face as he saw who was sitting there.

"Hey all you folks, look!" He slurred slightly, though all in all he sounded remarkably together for a person who had been enjoying himself far more than a person ought to early in the morning. "It's the Avatar!" The herd of festival-folk gasped and turned in excitement at the news: children pushed past their parents to get closer looks, and even the jesters stopped their juggling in order to pay attention.

Katara and Aang froze. It was never easy to predict how the people of the Fire Nation would react to their presence. After all, they had played a major part in overthrowing their old regime and but a year ago most of these people would have cheered for their deaths. Despite the collective cheers during the coronations and speeches, when met on the street some members of the public would react with suspicion and even hostility, and though the people were rallying being Zuko it was rare that the rest of the group would find anywhere near as much support. So, it was not unreasonable to think that their fun morning might have been about to be ruined.

But the wobbly man in front merely grinned and gestured warmly for the kids to stand. "Welcome to the party, Airbender! C'mon, show us how they celebrated things in the Air Kingdom, why don'cha?"

To the young couple's surprise, the rest of the crowd cheered and followed suit, genuinely wanting the two to join in on the fun.

Spurred on by their surprising acceptance, the two sudden guests of honor shared a cheerful, knowing grin - if there was anything Aang loved to do, it was show off to an appreciative crowd.

"Well, if you insist!"

With a flourish Aang suddenly flipped into the air – to the oohs and aahs of the throng of onlookers below – and formed his favorite trick beneath his feet: the air scooter. With a laugh, he sped around and around his audience, who backed up in order to give him some space. Faster, faster and faster he sped. So fast in fact that he began trailing a gust of spiraling wind, which grew greater and greater and size with each lap.

Just before he became an almost total blur, he let out another laugh and spun the gust into enormous – yet harmless – spout of twisting air: a mighty tornado centered around the fountain. The twister knocked Momo, who had been flying overhead, out of the sky and made several members of the crowd dive for cover - though once they were positive they weren't being carried away they only cheered all the louder. And even louder still once Aang started scooting up the whirlwind himself. He climbed higher and higher, so high that the audience had to crane their necks backward to see him (the wobbly man fell over).

Once he reached the very top of the spire all the wind immediately vanished, even the scooter, and cheers turned to gasping silence as Aang went into freefall.

Totally unworried, the master Airbender let himself fall for a few seconds for dramatic effect, before pulling out his glider. The effect was just as he had hoped: the crowd exploded in cheers as he drifted to the ground. Once his feet were square on the ground, he gave a humble bow. "Thank you! Thank you! You're too kind."

From his perch on the ground, the wobbly man clapped dazedly and spurred him on. "C'mon Avatar. Give us another! Give us another!"

Aang looked back at Katara, who had watched the show with a calm and casual amusement, and smirked as an idea caught him.

"Sure, but for my next trick I'll need a _volunteer._"

Despite paying attention to what was going on – or perhaps because she was paying such close attention – it took Katara several seconds to realize she was floating in midair. Later that evening, Aang would joke that the look on her face when she finally did look down and notice the ground wasn't under her feet was the funniest thing he'd seen at the festival by far.

"What? Whoa! Wait! Aang! Put me down!" Aang merely winked and gently carried her around the fountain, making it look as if she were flying.

A rush of cheers came from the children in the crowd. "Cool!" "Wow!" "Awesome." Aang smiled ever wider and playfully caught a glance with his girlfriend, who decided to play along now that the initial surprise had worn off.

As easily as she could do while floating in midair, Katara went through the motions of a few choice waterbending movements. At her call a small trail of water drifted up from the fountain and began to twist and twirl around her as she hovered back and forth. The effect was that of a kind of improvised dance: Katara spun, twirled glided over everyone's heads in a graceful display that almost seemed practiced.

Later (partly to avoid Katara's wrath from his earlier comment) Aang would say it was the most beautiful thing he had seen at the fair by far.

Once Aang had stopped moving her Katara finished her waterbending display by drawing all the water from the fountain and flinging it into the air, where it fell softly to the ground as snow. The crowd oohed again and let out another round of applause – not the least because snow was a great rarity in the Fire Nation.

Aang pulled Katara down to the ground and they both bent into another bow.

"Ah, now that made my day!" Drawled the wobbly man, who promptly passed out.

"Nice act," said a voice behind them – it was Suki, having seen the impromptu show from afar and gone to take a look. "But it's got nothing on what _we've_ got planned."

"So we've heard," Katara smirked, just a hint of a good-natured challenge in her voice.

An excited "wait, there's more?" chimed in from behind them - the wobbly man had apparently promptly un-passed out at the first sign of more entertainment.

"Oh, don't worry." Suki smirked right back, her own competitive side rising to the occasion. "We'll knock your socks off. Come on with me, we're starting in an hour or so."

When they arrived at the stage, Sokka was already there enjoying his exclusive front row seat: in fact, there was a reserved space for each of them. He gave them a little wave and leant back in his chair, looking supremely relaxed.

The stage itself looked amazing. Aang and Katara couldn't help but wonder how it all could have been put together so well, given that Ty Lee had only thought of the idea a few hours before. The wooden platform covered a very large area of the town centre, which made their fountain area look like a tiny soapbox in comparison. And though everything on the stage was hidden by a tall red curtain (Suki had to keep restraining an extremely excited Aang from flying up above it and taking a peek) the undeniable sounds of creaking wood and shifting mechanisms told of a whole plethora of amazing contraptions of some kind inside just waiting to be unleashed upon the awestruck eyes of the waiting, and growing, crowd.

"I almost can't believe it, but this is actually going to be a pretty good show," Suki mused, and Aang and Katara realized with a start that she may have been talking the whole time while they had been gaping at the stage. "At least, for something thrown up in such a short time. Ty Lee really learned a few things at that circus of hers."

A teasing glint returned to Katara's eyes. "Including how to convince people to do anything, it looks like. I wouldn't have figured you for a ringmaster."

Suki merely smiled silently in response.

"Hey guys!" Sokka called out from ahead, apparently having become impatient waiting for the others. "Come on up! The show's starting any minute!"

The group decided this rude interruption was as good a point as any to get a move on and made their way towards the stage, where they split up: Suki flashed them one last grin and went up through the curtains while Aang and Katara took their seats next to Sokka.

There was still some time until the show was set to begin, so they talked for a while to pass the time: Sokka informed Aang and Katara that Toph had gone off to find some entertainment elsewhere, being not particularly interested in a something she wouldn't be able to see. He also told them about Toph's worries about being spied on, which were suitably alarming - but they ultimately filed it away as something they would deal with after their break. After that, the conversation descended into jokes and funny stories. Aang and Katara were partway through telling Sokka about their own little show when Suki finally walked back out through the curtains.

They couldn't help but be surprised: in the short time since they separated, Suki had gotten dressed in a modified, more regal version of her usual Kyoshi Warrior armor – minus the makeup but complete with a distinctive headdress. Apparently, there was a wardrobe on that stage in addition to everything else that seemed to be going on in there: the Kyoshi Warriors never did anything halfway, even things a bit less intense than combat.

The crowd cheered as Suki came to a stand in front of the stage. With but a small glance at her friends, she looked up to the audience with an expression of absolute serenity and grace – though she would later claim to have been extremely nervous (something Sokka would find very funny). After a moment she gave a small bow, both a sign of respect and a signal for the crowd to quiet itself.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the audience… and Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe." She flashed Sokka a playful grin. "We the proud women of the Kyoshi Warriors are honored to bring to you demonstration of culture, swordsmanship, acrobatics and death defying skill. You have experienced all of the fun and excitement that a city-wide festival can provide, but now you will prepare to be amazed, shocked and in awe as-"

There was a wooden crash from far behind the audience. Several members of the crowd craned their necks to try and see what had happened, including the gang, but whatever had caused the sound was too far back to see.

Suki faltered, and her eyes lost their serene look for a brief moment as she gauged whether the interruption would continue. Sokka turned back towards the stage and gave her a clueless shrug, to which she tenuously carried on.

"Er… as I was saying… um… prepare to be shocked and amazed at this: our titanic display of-"

"HELP!"

Another sound: a yelp. This time much closer than the last. At this point most of the audience's attention was diverted towards the disturbances, evidently bringing Suki's introduction to a screeching halt. There were murmurs going through the crowd, and many members were rising to get a better view. Farther back, parts of the crowd were separating in order to allow something to pass.

Aang and the others stood up themselves just as the person, or persons, causing the disturbance pushed their way to the front of the crowd.

"HELP! SOMEONE!" It was a frantic older man dragging behind him a similarly frightened young woman, both in rural dress and shouting at the top of their lungs. Just behind them was the owner of the cart they had accidentally knocked over on the way to the stage, though he appeared to be followed out of concern rather than anger.

Both of the strangers looked absolutely haggard and were very out of breath, as through they had been running as they were for miles. Yet despite their obvious state of exhaustion, they seemed energized with fear. Several members of the crowd moved to aid, but the two refused to be led to a seat and continued to thrash towards the stage.

Aang and Sokka shared a glance, silently agreeing between themselves that it was time to get involved. Before they could move, however, they suddenly noticed that Katara was no longer standing next to them.

To their total lack of surprise, she was already at the distressed pair's side trying to help. "Don't worry," she was telling them. "Please. You're among friends. What happened? What do you need?"

"The Avatar!" The old man tone, though quieter with Katara's encouraging, was still noticeably anxious. "We were told we could find him we here, we need to-" His eyes travelled to across the crowd and found Aang's distinctive Airbender tattoos. "You!"

The young woman followed her companion's gaze in wonder. Upon seeing Aang as well, she gasped in awe. "My word! So he is here after all. I never thought I'd-"

It said a lot for the old man's distress that he completely ignored the woman's awe. He thrust himself upon Aang – who was unable to step back in time. He grabbed Aang's shirt and began yelling into his face. "Avatar Aang!" He pleaded. "You must help us! You must!"

Aang flinched, but calmly picked himself out of the man's grasp. "Calm down. I'm here to help. What's the problem?"

"Our home! Our home was destroyed! Blown up!" Several gasps echoed through the crowd. Aang ignored them. His confused expression turned serious. "Wiped out like… like…" He seemed unable to continue for the moment. The young woman took over.

"The one who did this sent my father and I here to find you."

Aang's eyes widened. Behind him, Katara, Sokka and Suki shared a shocked look. "Who? Who sent you."

"A giant of a man…" The old man wailed, still somewhat hysterical. "If he can be called a man. He was more like a monster!"

"He said if we didn't find you and bring you to him, he would tear apart the countryside," his daughter continued. "He could kill our friends. Our family! Please!"

"He wants to meet with me? Who is this guy?"

"Not just you. He said he wanted all of your friends. 'Traitors and runaways,' he called you."

"Traitors and runaways? Interesting…" Sokka put a hand to his chin, suddenly suspicious. There was something off about that last bit of information – something besides the fact that this mysterious person was calling them out.

Meanwhile, the others had failed to notice his mental bowing out of the conversation thanks to the woman and old man redoubling their pleas. "You have to help us! We beg you!" Finally, they could go on any more and broke down in each other's arms.

Aang stepped forward, his voice full caring. "We'll try." He caught their gaze, and the look in his eye – a look that told that his promise was as ironclad as his will – finally calmed. "Now, go to the palace and tell them your story. They'll take care of you. Katara…" He turned to Katara and gave her a weak smile, which she returned. With the kind of reassuring nature one can only get from years of compassion, she helped the suffering family to their feet and led their two new guests toward the palace.

Aang watched her go for a moment, newly downcast and full with more than a little righteous anger. He sighed for the sake of the ruined day and turned to Sokka, who shared his solemn expression.

"Sokka, go get Hawky and send word to Zuko."

Despite himself, Sokka grinned. It was not often that Aang took charge, let alone gave others orders. In fact, he was still a little insecure about that sort of thing – the irony of the Avatar himself being sheepish in authority was staggering. But in this case he seemed to be taking this personally. Sokka knew the feeling: whoever this bad guy was (and he was already mulling over a few theories about that), he was calling them all out on a personal level. What's worse, he was harming people over it. It was hard not to feel grim.

Still, he wouldn't be Sokka without his refreshing wit. "Heh, he is _not_ going to like this one."

"Yeah, I know. But what can we do, right?" With Aang's tone of voice Sokka would have almost thought Aang was being serious, if not for the smile playing on his friend's face. The joke did its job, and Aang's eyes slowly lost their hard edge. He was almost smiling by the time he realized someone was missing. "Also, where's Toph?"

"Somewhere down the base of the mountain, I think."

"Okay. I guess I'll go get her. We'll all meet up at the palace."

"I guess this means the show is off, huh?"

It was only at this point that Aang and Sokka remembered Suki was standing on the stage right behind them. A look of horror and disappointment spread across Aang's face as it suddenly dawned on him what he was going to miss: all that hype, all that excitement, all that hard work and he was going to have to skip it. It was almost more than he could bear!

"Oh… aw, man!"

Suki didn't appear to have heard him. She was in the middle of inspecting her weapons – making sure that they were battle ready - and didn't seem to be paying full attention to either of the boys in front of her. "Just as well, I suppose. This whole thing was a little ridiculous…" She spoke as if it were nothing, but there was a small hint of disappointment there. Very tiny if not undetectable by those who didn't know her, but enough to make it seem as though she may have actually been looking forward to this, despite it being mere entertainment rather than real action.

Aang was immediately struck with guilt. Missing out on fun things every now and then to go save lives was one of the pitfalls of his responsibility as Avatar, he knew. And as a Kyoshi Warrior, it was something Suki was trained from birth for. But whereas Airbenders were taught to find innocence and enjoyment wherever they could, the Kyoshi Warriors were drilled to always be on duty. Now, for what could have been the first time for several of them, they were treating themselves to a vacation. Aang simply couldn't allow a problem centered around him ruin that.

So it was with the upmost sincerity that he insisted she stay. "No way! This show sounds like it's gonna be amazing! Don't shut it down just because of us!"

Suki still looked unconvinced. Aang turned to Sokka for support, only to find that his friend was already far ahead of him – he was halfway up the stage and on a beeline for his girlfriend.

He put his arm around her shoulder and grinned his best grin. "You don't want to disappoint all these people, do you? Don't worry about us, Suki. We'll be okay. We'll be back before you know it."

"Sounds fair to me, I suppose." She smirked, despite herself. "But you might not want to be around when I tell Ty Lee in a minute or so."

Visions of the poor girl's wailing fits when she realized none of her friends would be there to see her hard work flitted through the boys' heads. If they had needed further incentive to leave immediately before, they certainly didn't need it now.

"Duly noted. Let's go!"

**Some Time Later**

To absolutely no one's surprise, Zuko was in a very foul mood when he returned. Grumbling phrases no one wanted to repeat, he stormed into the palace with a glowering Mai just behind little more than twenty minutes after Sokka sent Hawky for him. He immediately demanded to know what was going on, asking for explanations from Katara, Aang, Sokka and finally the farmer and his daughter themselves, then had a rather raised-voiced agreement with Sokka about how typical it all was that this should happen on the one day they had to themselves. None of them dared to disagree – not that they would have anyway – not even General Ibara, who had shown up somewhat randomly to monitor the situation.

With him in the temper he was, Zuko's audience with the poor farmers felt more like an interrogation than a plea for help. For one mad moment the others even thought he might have the farmers locked up for the night and deal with it the next day, but luckily his cooler head ultimately won out.

After learning all he could from the victims, Zuko assembled a small group of additional bodyguards, nearly threw them into the airship he had been using with Mai and called the group to action with barely a minced word. The ruined farm was a long way from the Capital, but the trip would at least be shorter by air. With his men on the airship and the rest of the gang on Appa, Zuko planned on finishing this as quickly as possible and coming back to his vacation with minimal aggravation.

Mai elected to stay behind and sulk on her own, though Sokka, Aang and Katara were quick to suggest a show in the town centre that she might enjoy – provided she take Momo with her. Meanwhile, Zuko was able to blow off a little bit of his anger by almost-shouting down Ibara's suggestion that he come along.

So it was with a little bit less of a cranky mood that they went on their way – a good thing, since even a faster trip by air was still very long. As the time dragged by and they missed more and more of their time off, some of their tempers started to flare as badly as Zuko's had.

Toph, for instance, was not taking it very well. "Gah! I thought we were done spending hours on the back of sweaty sky bisons!" Appa gave an indignant snort. "No offense, Appa. But I swear, I'm going to boot whoever this is into the ground. I was in the middle of a something good!"

"For the fifth time: we know, Toph." Katara sighed. "We all were."

"I'm a little less concerned with what I'm going to do about the guy as I am about who he is." Aang's voice was muted, as he was looking into the horizon for a sign of their destination. "I mean, who could do this?"

"I've been thinking about that." Sokka said. "Whoever's done this called us out personally, which means either it's some nut who wants to make a name for himself by beating the Avatar-"

"People have tried stranger things," Katara said, thinking of some the strange "fan-mail" Aang had gotten from some of his crazier supporters – as well as some bitter enemies.

"True. But there's also the possibility that it's someone we've met before, out for revenge."

Zuko (who had elected to ride with Appa) finally started paying attention to the conversation: he, like Aang, had been searching the horizon. In his case, he had been making sure his regimen of guards were keeping a safe distance – if this went wrong, he wanted to be the one with the element of surprise for once. "I forget sometimes how many enemies you guys have," he said, apparently thinking out loud.

Sokka shot him a smirk. "What, you think you and your family were the only baddies we've had to deal with in our time?"

Zuko scowled at the idea of being called a "baddie," but didn't press it. "Any ideas who?"

"Actually, yes. Whoever it is called us 'traitors and runaways.' No offense, Zuko, but I'm guessing the 'traitor' is you."

"Beats being called a 'baddie,' I suppose."

"Most people ought to know by now that you turned your back on your evil family," he continued, "so that doesn't tell us anything. What's really weird is 'runaways.' There's no doubt in my mind that that's our own Toph." Toph grinned and bowed as well as she could without losing her balance.

Aang, who had only really tagged along on the relevant adventure, needed a little memory jogging. "That's her name from the wanted posters, right?"

Toph puffed out her chest. "Not quite as cool as 'The Blind Bandit,' but yeah. It's still a better nickname than any of yours."

Aang played along, giving a fake pout that he forgot the others wouldn't be able to see. "Yeah… why don't I have a cool nickname like that?"

Katara rolled her eyes. "What, and The Avatar isn't-"

"Ahem!" Sokka cleared his throat with a pompous air. Katara and Toph rolled their eyes, but quieted down anyway. "As I was saying, that probably means Toph, but not many people would know to call her that. The fact that she ran away from home isn't common knowledge, and those wanted posters went largely ignored by most. So, who would know both that Zuko is a traitor and about those wanted posters?"

Katara immediately caught on to what he was saying. "You're thinking Combustion Man." It wasn't a question. Aang didn't turn around or speak, but he went rigid at the name and the hard look returned to his eyes. Toph, meanwhile, went into an exaggerated facepalm – and really did lose her balance this time.

"The mercenary who made things blow up?" She groaned. "I really hate that guy."

"I've told you guys already. That's not his name, it's-"

"-yeah, yeah Zuko. We all know not to hurt his feelings and call him names. But… yeah, that fits. He showed up when Katara and I were thrown in jail, and he was _there_ when Zuko switched sides…"

"Plus, who else could effortlessly blow up a whole house?"

Aang finally spoke, though his voice was suddenly still and quiet. "And here I thought he was gone for good…"

Sokka took it upon himself to point out what everyone was thinking. "If he's not, he's probably been gearing for revenge this whole time. Which is bad of all of us…"

"And means this is another problem I've brought on top of your heads. I-"

A chorus of rolled eyes echoed in response. "Zuko," Sokka said, once again voicing more or less what everyone was thinking… if voicing it in a particularly rough way. "If you apologize again I swear I'll have Toph throw you off Appa."

"And I'm pretty sure I can do it, even if I'm hundreds of feet away from any Earth."

This sparked a much needed round of laughter.

It took an hour longer to reach the area the farmer indicated, which came to some distance to Appa. It _was_ quite far: the family lived on a countryside to the South – farmland, obviously – with not much but fields for miles around it. This was a plus: there were sparse settlements nearby, but no cities full of people who could get hurt if something went bad (a nice change of pace, they thought).

It took a little more doing to find the farmer's homestead, but only ten minutes later they had come across it. It was unmistakable: like a blast zone. The ground was splintered into a crater where the house used to be. The fields nearby were torn and ruined. Unearthed trees littered its edge, and closer in slivers of shredded wood lay strewn this way and that. A house had definitely stood there… and it had definitely been wiped from the face of the earth recently.

The person responsible was making no effort to hide himself. There, where the destruction was strongest, sat a large figure. Very large – easily twice the width of an average man and much taller besides. He just sat there, drumming his hands on the ground impatiently. It seemed… off. The gang wondered if perhaps he had seen them coming, and was putting on a show of calm for their benefit. Or perhaps he simply did not care, but was just as eager as they were to get this over with.

Either way, it was time to get answers.

Zuko motioned for his men to keep their distance, just in case. Aang took Appa in low for a landing – close enough for everyone to hop out on their own: if things went bad, Aang didn't want Appa getting hurt. Besides not bearing to see his lifelong friend injured, the less his attention was taken from whoever it was who brought them here the easier this would be.

"We're here," he said simply. They had landed behind the figure, who made no effort to turn around. "So you can stop harming these innocent people and do what you came here to do. Whatever you want us for, it's time to settle it."

Toph took her cue to pound her fists together in a "beatdown" motion. "And by settle it," she said. "We mean… wait." She froze, eyes wide. She reached out to sense their opponent through the earth. It was strange and distorted, but she knew that feeling.

"You're good, but you can't take all of us," Sokka spoke with a bravado likely meant to throw the person he thought was Combustion Man off – because he surely remembered how hard it was to deal with him before. It did not appear to be working. "Remember who beat you down before! And after we trashed you we took down the Fire Lord. Your old boss. Fear us, jerk!"

"Granted, we barely survived…" Zuko quipped. Sokka ignored him.

Sokka… that's not…"

Toph's token attempt to stop him also went unheard – mainly because she was making no real effort to be heard. She was too busy trying to stop herself from losing her temper.

"So turn around, Combustion Man – or whatever your name is – and see if you can use your little explodey tricks on us again."

The figure stood. The figure turned. The rest of the gang gasped. It was not Combustion Man at all.

"What the devil are you talking about?" Said a monstrous Xin-Fu, a sinister grin stretching the ends of his face despite his confusion.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>This chapter was a bit of a hassle. Not because I wasn't sure how it should go, but more because I couldn't decide how to cut it. After this, it's another set of very quick events in succession - unless I can think of some very inventive padding, this is going to be but two parts long, but at the same time I'd rather some of those events were cut in a certain way, which I gave up because that would make the second part feel too short. Also, who the giant was initially not supposed to be suspenseful at all, it just kind of happened that way as I was writing. So... I was wondering whether I should save his identity for the next chapter or not. I eventually decided it would work out better if I did it here (which villain he is I suppose will be saved for when he actually takes up the name).

While writing this story (this _whole_ story) I'd forgotten two things - what the environment of the Fire Nation actually looked like (I also forgot the capital was on an inactive volcano/mountain), and Momo. So I added a little bit of that in there (the Momo stuff pretty much last minute).

The part about the festival was initially supposed to be much shorter, consisting only of Sokka doing stuff, running into Toph and meeting Aang and Katara at the show. But then I realized I was cutting out Aang and Katara from the story, so... that whole section popped up. The Wobbly Man is supposed to be one of those funny little characters like Foaming Mouth Guy, so don't read too much into it.

Also, here's a part I couldn't really figure out in terms of putting it into the story - what Toph was doing during the festival:

**Meanwhile, All The Way Down The Mountain:**

_"Come one, come all to the race of the century!"_ _Called out a__ man with a funny hat and charismatic voice. There was already a crowd gathered to the area, and as more filed in to see what the fuss was about he tipped his hat and flashed a grin. "We have here the newest and most spectacular development since the Flame Engine! Situated by rail, this amazing vehicle will make transport issues a thing of the past - no longer will we have to walk or ride an animal to get where we need to go, no! With this, the same technology to that which fuels the military's war machines, you will be whisked to where you want to go with nary a fuss or a problem!"_

_He gestured towards a huge, bulky device with large pistons and motors fastened all over it. It sat upon a rail which snaked around the mountain and off into the distance, then returned back from the other side. As the audience turned to look at them, the team of Firebenders operating the steam-powered dynamo waved excitedly._

_"Today, we plan to prove to you just how amazing our little invention here can be! This afternoon I ran into the one and only Toph Bei Fong - widely accepted as the greatest Earthbender in the world, if not in all of history!" The tiny girl standing next to the gigantic engine puffed out her chest. "I told her about our experiment here - with the permission of the Fire Lord, we're running our Flame Powered Transport all the way around the mountain and back! But Bei Fong here seems to think that going _through_ the mountain would be far faster than traveling around it. She seems to think she could beat or machine for speed any day. We couldn't help but make a wager out of it, and since there's all sorts of fun going on today we decided to make a presentation out of it!"_

_The crowd cheered, eager to see this amazing race unfold before them. The both the announcer and Toph grinned - this was exactly the reaction they wanted to see. "Don't worry, folks!" The announcer continued. "We've chosen a path that we are sure will be perfectly safe both for the geology of the mountain and for our volunteer competitor here! Are you ready, Miss Bei Fong?" _

_Toph gave a shout and raised her fist. The crowd bellowed in response._

_"Are you ready, team?"_

_The team of Firebenders gave shouts and hoots of their own, seemingly trying to gain a louder response from the crowd than Bei Fong. It worked to perfection._

_"Then-"_

_It was at that exact moment that a Sky Bison flew in through the air and landed near the track. From atop it disembarked a tattooed boy who could only be the Avatar. He ran over to Toph Bei Fong and had a very animated conversation with her. The crowd couldn't catch much of it, but there was something about "an emergency" and how he needed Toph to help. Bei Fong seemed to disagree, and stubbornly turned back towards the mountain. The Avatar, apparently feeling the situation he had was a bit more serious, apologized loudly and claimed he would explain later, then picked a surprised and furious Toph up with a gust of wind and gently deposited her on the Sky Bison's back. As he leapt up to the reins and took off they could see Bei Fong punch him hard on the shoulder - which almost made them crash - and then they were gone._

_A moment passed._

_"Well... this is unfortunate." The announcer said. "We seem to have lost our competitor. Heh..." As sheepish as he sounded, he looked even more panicked. Without his star he was going to lose the crowd! "Do any other Earthbenders happen to be in the vicinity? Please?" His hopes rose as he saw someone he thought might have been familiar standing in the crowd. "You! Sir!" The person in question started in surprise, not realizing he was being referred to. "I've been to the palace once or twice, haven't I seen you with the Earth King before?"  
><em>

_The person glared, and the announcer thought for a second that maybe he had made a mistake. Perhaps that information was not necessarily supposed to be widely known. Nevertheless, the man responded after a moment. "Yes..."_

_The announcer didn't miss a tick. "Are you an Earthbender?"_

_"Yes..."_

_"A good one?"_

_The man puffed out his chest just like Bei Fong had a few minutes ago. "One of the best."_

_"Excellent. What's your name, young man?"_

_"Chon Qo Ban."_

_"How'd you like to race my machine and make a lot of money?"_

_Chon grinned. "You know what? I think I can do that."_

* * *

><p>And that was it. A cool scene, but one that might have taken away from the flow of the story. So... I cut it out. I'm still going to refer to it once in passing a little later though, so don't think it didn't happen.<p>

See you next time.


	18. Forces Of Nature: Part 2

**Disclaimer: After several months of deliberating, I've decided I don't actually own Avatar or Batman elements. Took me long enough, eh?  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Forces Of Nature - Part 2<strong>

Despite enjoying her proud reputation for her often gung-ho, prone to action personality, there was actually very little that could make Toph Bei Fong truly angry. Unless they hit a sore spot, petty insults would bounce off of her boundless confidence. Setbacks tended to only make her more excited for the moment when she would finally win. When slighted, she would plot timely vengeance and go about her merry way.

Frustrated? No problem. Annoyed? Constantly. But actually angry? Not as often as one might think. And full on furious? Absolutely enraged? Very rarely, and it was never pretty. Very few things could drive her to such a state, but near the top of the list were people who incessantly tried to keep her down and just plain wouldn't get with the program.

It was why she became so irritated when they were all stuck in Ba Sing Se with its endless red tape and rules, and it's why she threw out whatever plan they had already worked out, threw caution to the wind and started on the assault the moment she laid eyes on Xin Fu, ignoring the rather drastic changes he had gone through since they last met.

"You? You again?! Seriously?! How many times do I have to beat you down before you get the point?"

She punctuated every sentence with another Earthbending strike, tearing apart the surrounding area even more so than it already was.

"Toph! Wait a moment!"

Sokka reached to pull Toph back mid-volley – carefully, so as to not get knocked aside in her zeal. Not only did this sudden (if justifiable) outburst risk ruining their entire plan, but he and the others had noticed what Toph, in her anger, hadn't yet: that Xin Fu was not only deflecting her attacks, he was doing so easily. And he was not doing it with redirection, as if he were spiritbending – he was knocking the tremors and fissures aside with the brute strength of bending alone, and he hadn't even broken a sweat.

However, Toph did not stop seem to hear him, or notice the ease in which Xin Fu was countering her. Forced to step up his efforts before boulders started flying everywhere and the whole thing turned into a total disaster, Sokka leapt forward and grabbed Toph on the shoulders.

"Toph!"

Toph tensed up and didn't turn around, but she at least stopped for a moment. "What?"

Now that she seemed to be willing to listen, Sokka let himself relax. "Wait a minute." He said calmly. "Stick to the plan, remember?"

"But-"

"I know. But just wait, ok?"

Toph grunted, but stood down. Breathing a sigh of relief, Sokka took her aside to explain how a person who could swat waves of Earthbending that powerful aside like flies probably required a more careful approach (careful had never been Toph's specialty, but she was willing to roll with it for now). Meanwhile, Zuko and Aang walked forward to confront their old enemy, who had thankfully – if suspiciously – not returned fire.

Xin Fu regarded them a dismissive smirk. "So, was that your idea of a warning shot? Or was the little blind girl really trying to hurt me?" He chuckled, and somewhere behind them Sokka had to hold Toph back from attacking again. Xin Fu smirked even wider, and gave her a warning look. "I'm not impressed."

Neither Aang nor Zuko were the type to take insults to their friends lightly, but to their credit they both managed to keep their tempers in check. About the insults, at least.

"We don't particularly care what impresses you." Zuko's mood, already irritated, had was becoming increasingly ugly. "You have assaulted one of my subjects and destroyed their property, which as far as I'm concerned means you've staged an attack upon the Fire Nation itself and are one smart comment away from suffering the full extent of my wrath."

Xin Fu scoffed. Zuko's eyes narrowed slightly, but he and Aang otherwise ignored it.

Aang managed to keep himself a bit calmer. "We don't know why you've done these things, Xin Fu, or how you altered yourself to make this… whatever this _is_… possible, but if you're here pursuing a bounty you should know by now that the bounties on all our heads have been dropped. So we suggest you stop now before you do something that you might regret."

At this point, Sokka left Toph to join Aang and Zuko. Meanwhile, Katara and Toph (Toph rather reluctantly) took positions to the rear, preparing to attack from a distance and cover the boys' positions in the event that things got violent.

"Or in other words, something that forces us to take action. Surrender, and I'll only banish you indefinitely from my country. Don't make me think of something worse – I will without a second thought." He gestured upwards, where the airship and its regiment of guards was circling around the battlefield, waiting for his command.

"So what'll it be, komodo-rhino breath?" Toph jeered.

Xin Fu looked around at the group that was quickly surrounding him. His expression was unreadable.

"Something I might regret, eh? Something I might regret…" For a moment, he sounded as though he were actually thinking it over. Then he smiled, with a glint in his eyes that none of them liked. "I… doubt I'd regret anything I might do here. Chances are you will, though."

Zuko's eyes were so narrow they were hardly visible at this point. The others shared a glance and got themselves ready: it was looking very likely that this was going to turn into a fight.

"Listen you…"

Xin Fu continued to talk right over Zuko, earning him another ugly snarl. " As for the bounties, well… let's just say I'm here for more personal reasons. Though I'm sure I'll still be able to cash in for one of you." He glanced at Toph, who knew exactly what he was talking about. She stuck out her tongue at him. "But in any case, what I'm really here to do is get some… I guess you political types would call it retribution. And as you can see, I got myself the power to take it. So by all means, let's see what your 'wrath' is worth… _cause there's no way I'll let some __**punk kid disrespect me!"**_

"Zuko! Look out!"

Both Aang and Sokka saw it before Zuko did. Without warning Xin Fu threw his arm in Zuko's direction, and a large stone flew out of the ground toward him at high speed – too fast for him to react.

The image of another friend suffering a similar fate once before flashing before his eyes, Sokka dived into action and pushed Zuko safely out of danger. Aang, who moved to do the same, broke off in midair and twisted just in the nick of time to avoid the attack, only noticing at the last second that Sokka was still in harm's way.

The stone hit him straight on and sent him flying far into the distance, where he bounced against the ground several times and slammed into a tree with a heavy thud. He slid motionlessly down the tree's trunk, unconscious.

"Sokka!"

Katara's reacted first. Without a second thought, she tore away from the group and toward her brother with healing hands at the ready. Zuko and Aang also snapped into action– Zuko was on his feet right away and began blasting at Xin Fu's face with firebending. Aang swept around his other side and copied Zuko's moves, putting Xin Fu under attack from two directions.

Whatever it was that Xin Fu had done to himself, it had done wonders for his skin – the fire wasn't burning him yet. But it was at least irritating him enough to make him block his face and leave himself open to attack. Perfect for an Earthbending strike.

Aang shouted out a signal, fully expecting Xin Fu to be laid out by a giant fissure at any moment. Nothing happened.

Aang turned to their resident Earthbender to find her frozen in the middle of a bending stance, doing… nothing, apparently – a sight that was fairly off-putting.

"Um… Toph?"

Aang's momentary lapse in attention proved costly, as Xin Fu took the opportunity to knock him to the ground and throw him at his feet. Stunned from the impact, Aang was unable to react as quickly as he would like and the next few seconds found him struggling to avoid being crushed by Xin Fu's mammoth foot. Meanwhile, Toph continued to stand there, tense and seemingly frozen with her eyes closed shut.

"Toph!" Aang shouted, hoping to snap her out of whatever trance she was in.

Toph's grunted and turned slightly in Aang's direction, and it suddenly dawned on him that she wasn't in a trance - she was concentrating. "Don't distract me, distract him!" She shouted back. "I've got an idea!"

Aang couldn't help but be a little bit skeptical. From his position under Xin Fu's boot it didn't look likewhatever plan she had was accomplishing much – especially given that Xin Fu was quickly losing his patience for being shot in the face with firebending.

"You little bugs!" He lifted his foot into the air – Aang squeaked and leapt out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed by a powerful stomp. The impact created a shockwave that knocked Zuko to the ground and sent Aang - who was already on the ground - flying into the air. With them momentarily out of the way, he turned his attentions to Toph. "_Distract_ me? What makes you think I'll let you do that, you-"

But whatever name he was about to call her was lost as Zuko's bodyguards finally sprung into action. A trio of them vaulted from the airship to join the fray, leaping onto Xin Fu's back flaming-fist first.

"Gah! Get off of me, you little…" Xin Fu bellowed in rage and attempted to shake the guards off, but they managed to avoid his reach for the moment and continued to their pummeling.

Recognizing an opportune moment when he saw one, Zuko took stock of his surroundings – the rest of his guards had flown over to help Katara tend to Sokka while Xin Fu was distracted, Toph was still working on whatever it was she was planning to do, and as for Aang… Zuko didn't see him immediately.

At the moment, however, Zuko felt it was better to press the offensive than look after Aang – the Avatar could take care of himself, after all. Sweeping up from the ground, Zuko kicked Xin Fu hard in the back of the knee. With a grunt, the giant stumbled – allowing Zuko to follow up with a spinning fire-kick to the face.

Xin Fu put a hand to his face, and growled upon finding a scratch there. "Why you little… king or not, I'm going to put you in your-"

"Done!"

Xin Fu turned in surprise and found Toph staring at him with a wide, triumphant grin. She lifted her arms and wrenched a pair of massive boulders out of the ground from either side of him, and with a practiced motion brought her arms - and so the boulders - flying together. Acting fast, Xin Fu easily caught each with one hand and pushed them apart as far as his arms could reach. What came next was a brief stalemate, as Toph gritted her teeth trying to crush Xin Fu between the stones and Xin Fu kept them at bay.

Unfortunately, the effort to avoid being crushed strained Xin Fu only slightly. "You think this is going to stop me?" He laughed, still assured of his victory. "I can toss these aside easily! Your little 'plan' is a failure! Now I'm gonna-"

"Why be so quick to assume _that_ was my plan, dimwit?" Toph grinned. "You've done it now, Xin Fu! You see, Sokka – you know, the guy you threw into the tree back there – he's been teaching me a thing or two about machines. Boring stuff mostly, but they do sometimes give me some pretty good ideas!"

Suddenly, the ground itself opened up beneath Xin Fu's feet, revealing the large hollowed-out underground chamber that Toph had been working on the entire time. The roof caved in much too fast for Xin Fu, and between the boulders and Toph his focus was too split for him to recover. Just as planned, he plummeted down to the bottom of the trap… where a specially made platform awaited him.

Either due to the darkness of the hole he had fallen into or due to his own single-minded rage, Xin Fu failed to notice the rather impressively complicated design of the platform he landed on – in particular, the two stone lever-like slats jutting out from either side. Instead, he roared with fury at the girl who dropped him in that hole – a grave mistake, considering that he chose to do so instead of Earhbending his way out first.

"**YOU PUNK! I'LL RIP YOU TO SHREDS AND TAKE YOU BACK HOME TO MOMMY AND DADDY IN PIECES!"**

Toph merely looked down at the hole and smirked, absolute victory written all over her face. "And how're you going to do that with a concussion, Xin-Fool?"

"Bwuh?"

Grinning like a maniac, Toph lifted the twin boulders into the air and, hovering them at exactly the right distance, used gravity to her full advantage and sent them hurtling down after Xin Fu. With perfect precision, they landed with a massive thud on either side of Toph's unwitting victim, right on top of the complex stone levers she had created just him. With lightning speed, so quick in fact that he didn't even have time to articulate the misconception that she missed, Xin Fu was sent flying straight up into the air.

Toph took in the sound of his stunned scream and smiled – usually, she didn't find that sort of thing all too entertaining, but in this case she was happily making an exception. As far as she was concerned, this was well deserved and _very_ satisfying. In fact, it wasn't until she heard Aang loudly object that she wondered if perhaps she hadn't overdone it a bit.

It was true: either due to designing the trap a lot better than even she expected or simply because she put too much power behind those boulders, Xin Fu was flying much higher than Toph had planned. Too high: high enough for the others, especially Aang, to seriously worry about his well being - even with his new mysteriously mutated physique.

"I'm on it!" He shouted. "Get ready to catch!" With that, he opened his glider and rocketed into the air towards Xin Fu – who was still ascending even now.

Zuko nodded - more out of habit, as it was unlikely Aang even saw him do it - and turned to his men. "You heard the Avatar. See if you can get to the airship and into the air before they land." He turned to give the same look to Toph, before realizing that she too wouldn't see it and calling out to her. "You too, Toph."

Toph crossed her arms and snorted, looking somewhat put out that she now had to take her enemy out of the situation she had just went through so much trouble to put him into. However, she did not disagree. "Fine. I think I can make the ground soft enough so that dunderhead won't get too hurt. But you'll have to tell me where to go."

Meanwhile, Aang zeroed in on his rescuee. He soon realized, however, that he miscalculated how long it would take them to meet. Xin Fu was no longer rising: he was falling, and fast.

"Hang on!" He shouted, and without waiting for a response he immediately went to work. Balancing his glider with ever-careful precision, he circled around Xin Fu's falling form once, then twice, then again – faster with every pass. It was the second time that day he had used this technique, but unlike the small gust he drummed up that morning, here he was aiming for a powerful typhoon. Redirecting air into such lift was harder than it looked to begin with, and to do it this powerfully this far into the air he needed to move perfectly with wind around him. So, he went into a state of extreme bending focus.

Which was a shame, for due to said focus he failed to notice that Xin Fu was no longer flailing around. In fact, he was staring at him with an unsettling air of foreboding…

Down below, Zuko tried to organize his men into a rescue team as quickly as possible, but it almost immediately proved to be a wasted effort. What with the part of the crew with the actual airship still far from the battle helping Katara heal Sokka (Zuko idly wondered whether the length of time meant Sokka was seriously hurt, or whether the fight was just going much quicker than it seemed to be), there was not enough time to help that way.

"It's no use, they're falling too fast," Zuko muttered to himself. "If it wasn't for the fact that this thug is too powerful to leave unquestioned, I might just say let him fall…"

In any case, with the airship out of the question that left Toph as their only hope. But it still all came down to a question of time…

"Sire!" One of the guardsmen pulled him away from his thoughts. The man was pointing at the sky, looking half-amazed despite the situation. "The Avatar! Look, he's doing something!" Zuko turned to the air, where he saw Aang's circlular flying – at this point fast enough to almost a blur. Before his very eyes, the two started to fall less and less quickly as wind began to visibly whip around then.

"He's… he's creating his own air resistance…"

The guardsman blinked. Clearly, he wasn't the one who operated the airship. "What?"

"I said he's slowing them down! Toph!" The blind Earthbender nodded, ready to do what she could even if she rathered Xin Fu got a painful smack against the ground. "Can you create something to catch? Maybe make the gound softer? It'll be painful, but it won't be fatal at least. Be ready to turn it into a cage for our would-be marauder as well."

Toph smirked. "Not a problem! Just tell me where to start."

Zuko moved to right around where it looked like the two would land and tapped his foot in a sort of signal. As soon as he was sure Toph got the message, he made sure he was out of the area and looked back at the sky. "It's all up you now, Aang." He murmured, still mostly to himself. "Let's finish this in time to catch the end of the festival…"

Back up in the air Aang had successfully slowed their descent down somewhat, but he knew it still wouldn't be enough. He needed to guide them down safely to be absolutely sure. Making doubly sure not to lose his balance, he closed the distance between himself and Xin Fu and reached out to his enemy.

"Surrender, and grab my hand!" He shouted, keeping one hand on his glider for support. Xin Fu grunted, but made no motion. Frustrated, Aang drew closer and offered his hand again. "Don't be a fool! It's the only way you're going to get out of this unharmed!"

To his surprise, Xin Fu smiled. "So sure, are you?"

Like a flash, he reached out – but not to take Aang's hand. Before Aang could react – even to draw back - Xin Fu gripped him around the neck and wrestled him into a vice-like headlock. With his concentration broken, the airflow slowing them down dissipated instantly. Within moments, they were back in free fall.

On the ground, the plan quickly fell apart.

"No. No!" Zuko shouted. "He's mad! What is he doing?" In the distance, they could all hear Katara fearfully yelling Aang's name as she too saw him fall into Xin Fu's grip.

"What's going on?" Said Toph, being the only one who couldn't witness what was going on. Zuko was almost jealous. "What's happening? Who's mad?"

Zuko really didn't want to tell her – saying this out loud made him even more angry than seeing it. "Xin Fu." He sighed. "He's attacking Aang, and twisting him out our way. They're going to crash. I don't know what we can do! There's no more time. They're going to hit the ground in…" His eyes widened – he had been so flustered that he didn't realize how close they were! "Soon. Very soon! Everyone, get out of the way!"

Up in the air Aang struggled against the hold, but the combination of Xin Fu's unnatural strength and the dizziness of the fall kept him breaking free. They were spinning uncontrollably now – if he didn't know better, he would think Xin Fu was taking them into a tailspin on purpose. "Let me go! Are you insane? You're going to get us both killed!"

"Us _both?_ I'm not so sure about that. Let's see…" To Aang's horror, Xin Fu repositioned his so that his head would be the first thing to hit the ground. "Which of us is this gonna hurt more, I wonder?"

The ground was fast approaching. Xin Fu obviously didn't care so much about his own welfare if it meant hurting one of his enemies, or perhaps his newfound power had made him too brave. In any case, if Aang didn't do something fast he was going to be smashed to pieces. And the only idea he had was very, very risky.

"In case this doesn't work, I'm sorry Roku…" Reaching deep within himself, Aang tapped into his past lives and activated the Avatar State – but only for a single moment. The sudden rush of power did it's job: in the blink of an eye, he had wrested himself from Xin Fu's hold.

"What? Whoa!" The shift threw Xin Fu off balance and they fell apart. Now clear, Aang allowed his spiritual power to ebb away: if this went too wrong he didn't want to put the Avatar Cycle at risk. Xin Fu was somewhat dealt with at the moment, but Aang had a more pressing problem to deal with. He was still fast to Earth, and was too off balance to totally recover in time. Even with his glider and airbending to help him, this was going to hurt.

With a literal wing and a prayer, Aang threw open his glider and mustered up as much air as he could. He was instantly turned horizontally – still twisting and turning, but with a lot more control. With time still running out and unable to think of anything else, Aang formed a whirlwind in order to better coordinate his fall. With only feet to spare, Aang pushed off with one final gust to slow himself down as much as he could.

It saved his life, but he didn't get away unscathed. His landing was the roughest he'd ever had. He slammed shoulder first into the dirt, and grit his teeth as he felt something pop in a very uncomfortable way. He ricocheted back into the air, dragged by his own airbending, before landing once more in a heavy heap. None of which was particularly pleasant.

Even so, he might have been all right… if not for the shockwave.

**Meanwhile, On The Other Side Of The Battlefield**

From Sokka's side Katara could see everything – not that she could spare to split her attention from her badly battered brother.

Sokka's injuries were bad – thanks to her healing he would recover in a few days, but it was just lucky that she responded so soon before the damage became unfixable, even deadly. In fact, there may have been some permanent aftereffects if not for the helpful arrival of Zuko's men – who, while lacking the healing capabilities of a Waterbender, were skilled field medics.

It almost made her laugh: to think that not so long ago the Fire Nation Army was trying to kill them, and now without they were saving each other from the brink of death.

After stabilizing Sokka and moving him to the airship she and the medics prepared to charge in and aid their friends. They had just rallied when they saw Xin Fu flying into air (it didn't surprise Katara later to hear that this was Toph's doing). At first they were relieved: they thought it was surely the end of the fight. They all began to relax, even Katara. But then before her eyes Aang flew up to guide Xin Fu down and everything went wrong: Aang, in a vice grip. The pair of them falling like stones. Toph, Zuko, and the rest of the guardsmen scrambling like birds to get out of the way.

She could barely hear the sound of the medics' gasps or her own voice shouting Aang's name. She couldn't tear her eyes away. She could only feel a terrible ache as she saw him fall, then a slight relief as she saw him twist away only for that feeling to be ruthlessly destroyed as he crashed anyway. Without a word, she moved to heal him the same as Sokka, but a hand on her shoulder held her back. She turned wildly and saw one of the medics pointing towards the fight with a trembling hand.

They all saw it a split second before they felt it. Xin Fu dove through the air towards the ground just as Aang, but unlike Aang he seemed totally confident. He eased into the drop, letting himself fall feet first. As he directed himself he took on a stance Katara thought she might have seen Toph use at one point – and the moment she thought of Toph it hit her who Xin Fu's target was going to be. There was no time left to shout a warning. He landed solidly directly in front of the blind Earthbender and dropped his fist, pounding the ground with the force of a falling mountain. The impact caused a massive shockwave. The ground rumbled violently and crags burst of the dirt in every direction, sending bodies hurtling through the air.

Katara could make out every victim with agonizing clarity: first, a stone ball went catapulting over their heads far into the distance – Toph, having thankfully realized what was happening just in time and covered herself in some kind of shield. Zuko and his men were hit next, but they had dived to the ground and protected themselves before the attack and thus were not flung so roughly. But then lastly, tugging at her fears the most, she saw Aang flop motionlessly off the ground like a rag-doll – already injured and definitely not in need of any more harm.

Finally, the shockwave passed through them as well. Katara and the guardsmen were far enough away that the worse effects had since ebbed away, but the force was still powerful enough to nearly sweep even the battle-hardened Fire Nation troops off their feet.

Katara remained undaunted. As soon as the tremors ceased she charged towards her friends and the giant that had somehow taken them all out. The soldiers were a bit slower in recovering - by the time they realized she was on the move, Katara was already halfway to Xin Fu and preparing her water cache for a fight – but they ran to help as well.

The area was still covered in dust from the impact – it was hard to see anything, and Katara had a hard time keeping herself from coughing. Dearly wishing she had Toph's "sight" backing her up, she slowly inched through the cloud with eyes peeled for any hint of an attack.

The next few seconds were ominous. With everything a foot in front of her face obscured by dust and no real sense of what was around her, even her own senses seemed untrustworthy. If she were a more trigger happy person, Katara may have ended up taking shots at every little sound she heard – which would have been quite awkward when the guardsmen finally caught up with her. As it was, even with backup helping to search there was nothing to go on. Nothing in the air but dust, silence, the sound of their footsteps and…

… a silhouette!

Katara eyes caught the gargantuan shadow the moment it came into view – if Xin Fu wanted to sneak up on her, he would have to better to fool someone who once routinely eluded armies. "There!" She aimed high and flung a water whip straight into the heart of the shadow, turning it to ice as soon as it made contact.

Her quick thinking hit home: the whip struck Xin Fu around the wrist and froze into thick, icy manacles. With his arms securely bound, Katara then took aim at his ankles in order to totally incapacitate him.

There was a loud thud as Xin Fu stomped the ground, and some of the dust cleared. Katara felt the ground below her feet spring up and flip her into the air. She had but a moment to note that Toph had once hit her with something similar just after they met, before Xin Fu stomped the ground again and she found herself pinned inside a heavy encasement.

By now the dust had cleared away, and Xin Fu and what was left of Zuko's men could see each other clearly. Now smiling that leering smile of his, Xin Fu tugged at the restraints Katara had given him and shattered them into a million pieces of ice. The soldiers stood their ground despite this show of indomitability, but they might as well have been fighting a brick wall with sticks of bamboo. Xin Fu was on a roll, and he did not let the opportunity slip away.

Xin Fu swung his fists, and one by one the guards were effortlessly knocked away. Before long there was only one left, and the fight was all but over. Katara struggled desperately at her stone prison, but she could not break free. She could only watch in anger as Xin Fu began to bask in his victory.

"This is it?" He grunted, halfway between mocking and genuine disappointment. "This is the best you kids could be bothered to throw at me? Seriously? The serum was almost too powerful – I barely enjoyed my revenge at all! You all went down like flies!"

The last soldier seemed to lose his courage. He dropped his weapon on the ground and stumbled backwards, but was either still too loyal or too frozen with fear to run. "No… please. I beg of you!" He pleaded. "I have a family! We all do! Spare us, please!"

Xin Fu's eyes narrowed, and he sneered. "Wimps and cowards, the lot of you. If I had known I would be going up against this level of weakness, I wouldn't have even bothered! I feel… cheated. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want a rematch!"

He leaned close to the petrified soldier, grinning wide and cruel. "You're in luck, you milksop. You all get to walk away from this. Tell the rest when they can walk: tomorrow at dawn, I'm going to give you one more chance to give me a challenge. The gates of the capital should do for a decent battleground. Fail this time, and I'll tear the whole city down and bury you all beneath the rubble. You know I can do it."

The soldier could only muster a whisper. "W-what are you?"

"What? Not _who?_ Funny." Xin Fu smirked. Despite his words, he did not look offended. Rather, he seemed thoughtful. "Heh. Now I know why those idiots in my old fight ring loved showing off. Loved putting on a show, and giving themselves silly names – it makes you seem larger than life. Puts a little bit more of the fear into the crowd and your enemies. Hmm… why not? I'll give it a shot." He tapped his chin, leering down with pensive eyes at the remaining guardsman who trembled in confusion and sheer fright.

"W-what are you talking ab-"

"_Shut up!" _His hand suddenly shot forward and gripped his poor messenger around the throat, lifting him into the air and cowing him into silence. "I'm thinking…" After a moment, he grinned. "I've got it. I think I've caused a lot of damage here, don't you? Why don't you call me… Blockbuster! That oughta do it."

"B-blockbuster?"

Xin Fu laughed a loud, booming guffaw. Under her bindings, Katara scowled – wishing so much that she could wipe the grin off of his face. "So you _can_ learn after all. Xin Fu, the Great Blockbuster! I like it. Remember the name, and remember my ultimatum! This ends at dawn!"

With his message delivered once more Xin Fu dropped the man and walked into the distance, with no concern whatsoever for who he was leaving behind.

Once he was sure the giant was gone, the guardsman rushed over to Katara and attempted to free her. He needn't have bothered, for once Xin Fu was out of sight the construct disintegrated: an act of mocking mercy from an opponent who had nothing to fear.

Katara resisted the urge to use her freedom to tend to her own discomfort. There were more important things to attend to.

"Help me get everyone onto the airship, so we can start patching them up. Then, we have to find Toph… wherever she flew off to. There's a lot of work we've got to do before tomorrow."

* * *

><p><strong>Some Time Later:<strong>

When they walked into the palace several hours later everyone was aching, exhausted and_ very_ put out. By then Sokka had made a promising, if partial recovery. Being Sokka he refused to be carried, though after several moments of pain he at least consented to leaning on the others on the way inside.

As luck would have it, no one else was as seriously hurt as Sokka. Zuko and his men required the least attention: having covered in time, they were knocked out but didn't take as much damage from Xin Fu's final attack as the others. They awoke quickly, and Zuko wasted no time in sending out a search party for Toph. Katara wondered if perhaps he felt guilty for not getting her out of harm's way in time – she was hit point blank, after all, while Zuko was able to protect himself. Though Katara felt he had nothing to be ashamed of (everything happened too quickly for anyone to do anything, in her opinion), Zuko was always feeling guilty about something.

And since this was Zuko, he refused to be cheered up even slightly and no amount of reassurance could stop his sulking. With the most obvious she could make her eyes roll, Katara threw up her hands and focused on other things instead.

Toph turned up stuck in a tree branch over a mile away – stone shield and all. She was also among the less injured, for her last-second cover had protected her from the brunt of the attack. However, stone is still not exactly the best of shock absorbers, and either due to the first strike or the landing she was out cold when they found her. A little healing reduced the risk of concussion, however, and though she still didn't wake up right away Katara was sure it was by choice rather than due to injury.

Aang had a dislocated shoulder and was covered in cuts and bruises, but from the fall he took it was a miracle that that was the worst of it. He awoke soon after Katara started working on him (easing the terrible grip around her heart in the process), and once he did he was able to help himself along through some self-healing techniques Katara had taught him. Eventually everyone either filtered into the airship or back upon Appa's back – with the two sleepers riding with Appa.

The journey back was thankfully uneventful. Toph and Sokka awoke halfway through, but nobody seemed to want to talk about their obvious defeat just yet. Sokka naturally tried to lighten the mood with jokes and exaggerated complaints about his injuries, but the collective mood remained somber. Toph surprisingly enough remained silent for the whole trip. She laughed once or twice at Sokka's jokes and grunted whenever her name was mentioned, but otherwise glared mutely at nothing over Appa's side.

By the time they reached the capital, the Kyoshi Warriors' show had ended. Apparently it had been a huge success (even Mai enjoyed it, as much as she would admit anyway), though Ty Lee was still sad the others had missed it. She, Suki and Mai were waiting in the palace when they returned and rushed to tell them all about what they missed as soon as they saw them, but fell silent once they noticed their friends faces. One look at their sour expressions made it clear that things had not gone as planned.

Zuko (still too furious for words) refused to speak a word of it – even to Mai - until he had gotten something to eat and a room prepared for them all to rest, and the others agreed. He sent the soldiers off to recover on their own, and after a short but tense dinner the group filtered into one of the palace's many private lounges. Once there they finally allowed themselves to sit, relax and debrief.

"That. Was. Horrible." Aang put simply.

"How did he get so… so… like _that_?_" _Zuko stammered. "When I ran into him he was a powerful bender, yes, but that? Ten feet tall and able to make earthquakes with his fists?"

After they arrived Zuko sent for Iroh and then explained the entire situation to everyone who hadn't been there, but this seemed far out of even his understanding. "If what you tell me is true, there must be something horribly unnatural involved."

Aang suddenly sat up straight. "You don't think it's the spiritbenders, do you?"

"He mentioned some kind of serum." Katara mused. "The spiritbenders' supply of that stuff they used on Ozai was all blown up, wasn't it?"

"As far as we know…"

"I don't think this was one of the spiritbenders' tricks." Everyone jumped and turned the door, where Toph had been lurking since their arrival. Those were the first words she had said since she awoke from her injuries.

"How do you know?" Mai raised an eyebrow. Instead of responding, Toph turned her head away and glared at the wall.

"Well, she was the one that memorized the tablets and transcribed them for us." Aang said softly, watching Toph's sour mood. "Offhand, I suppose she would know."

"It makes sense," Sokka murmured from his easy chair. His injuries were mostly healed by now: all that remained was a residual pain that Katara said would last a while. "Xin Fu seemed to be working alone. And can I have another pillow? The ones I have aren't fluffy enough."

Far be it from Sokka not to milk the situation as much as he could.

Iroh nodded (meanwhile, Aang airbended his pillow into Sokka's face). "That's correct. My brother wishes to leave his mark upon the world. His, and no one else's. If this had been his doing, we would know for sure."

Sokka appreciated the confirmation, but groaned anyway. "Problem is, that leaves us with no way to explain it at all. He beat all of us down and barely broke a sweat. He knocked Toph way over the horizon. No offense, Toph." Toph merely grunted. Her head was still turned away. "I mean, he took down _Aang!_ Not to mention what he did to me!How does someone _do_ that?"

Ty Lee cleared her throat. "To be fair, even though he _was_ winning the whole time it sounds like in the end he only took you guys down because of opportunity. Especially you, Aang. If he hadn't grabbed you when he did…"

Suki gave her a disapproving glance. "You especially should know that the ability to take advantage of opportunity is even more vital than strength," she said in a lecturing tone.

"Yes, but I'm saying he may not be as powerful as you all think. In that situation, being able to defeat the Avatar might not be as much a sign of power as it could have been."

Suki blushed. "Oh. You're right. I'm sorry." Ty Lee waved it off and smiled.

Zuko sighed. His fury at their defeat had subsided, but his determination was only growing. "In any case, we know he's strong enough to survive a great fall without a scratch and turn all that force against _us_ instead. We need to devise a plan. Something that can overcome that much power."

"I disagree. What you guys need isn't pure power, it's precision," Mai said. She took one of her pins out of her hair as an example. "Sometimes, a chisel can do a lot more damage than a hammer. You need to find-"

"-weak points!" Sokka snapped up in his seat – and immediately laid back down once the pain set in. Mai glared at him. "Just like with the drill. We got that idea from you guys too. Well, mostly Ty Lee."

Ty Lee grinned, and Mai couldn't resist a small smile. "I remember that," she said. "I got to see Azula be handed defeat for the first time, and covered in gunk besides. One of the funniest moments of my life."

Ty Lee giggled, though she was not as cold on the subject of Azula as her friend was. Once she got it out of her system, she got to thinking. "You're right. As big as this guy is, he should still have pressure points – even if they are hidden under a ton of unnatural muscle. We just have to find a way to hit them."

"Yes! We are officially out of square one!" Aang cheered. The change in mood was infectious and soon everyone was smiling with at least a tiny bit more optimism.

"Excellent!" Sokka sat up again, making sure not to overexert himself this time. "Now all we have to do it come up with a battle strategy! Toph, you… wait." He looked around the room. "Um… where _is_ Toph?"

"She left back when we were talking about how strong Xin Fu was." Ty Lee frowned, and her voice grew soft. "She seemed imbalanced. So down on herself."

"Toph _is_ very proud of her abilities," Katara said. "She must've hated being beaten like that. Especially by Xin Fu, who represents everything that's tried to hold her back in life. Did you hear what he said about dragging her home?"

A moment passed. Aang stood up first. "Maybe I should go talk to her."

Zuko shook his head. "After. We'll help Toph get through this after we get a plan together. I don't care how long it takes, we're not leaving here without knowing what we're going to do to take Xin Fu down."

"And here I thought you would spend the whole time moping," Mai quipped, smirking. "Oh, and Sokka…" Sokka turned in her direction just in time to see the pin Mai had been fingering whiz past his ear and impale his chair. "Next time, make an effort not to cut me off or finish my sentences. I really hate that."

Sokka gulped. "You've got it."

* * *

><p><strong>Far Below Zuko's Palace<strong>

Toph was alone, wandering the secluded area of the underground tunnels she had claimed as her practice ground. The tunnel system was so huge that Zuko was barely using it: she could spend as much time as she wanted in this area and not worry at all about running into any one.

She hated to up and leave her friends like that, but she had to get away from them all. She could barely stomach what had just happened as it is, and she didn't want to deal with their silly attempts to rationalize it at the same time. The truth was obvious.

Xin Fu. _Xin Fu_ of all people defeated them. And not just simple defeat, no. He had dwarfed their abilities. She had been totally humiliated. _Again!_

What had she told him last time they met? What did she force him to understand from the inside of a metal box? That she was the greatest Earthbender in the world! If anyone between the two was to be humiliated, it was him. That's the way it was supposed to work! And yet she had allowed herself to be thrown aside like a... "…_like a child…"_ she thought. She had been there fighting, and yet Sokka had nearly been broken into a million pieces. Aang had nearly become a smear on the ground. Zuko had nearly been buried under a mountain of dust. All on _her_ watch!

The very thought made her want to break something.

She didn't care what the others (or her own conscience) would say: this called for drastic measures. First that spiritbender had rendered her totally useless, and now Xin Fu was outdoing her. She just couldn't compare, not like this. Clearly, her Earthbending was lacking, and she was going to force it back into shape. If Xin Fu wanted to cheat, then so would she.

She racked her memory and recreated one of the rare tablets from the spiritbender temple. So far she had only used some of the more general techniques, and even so very carefully. With practice, she had been able to increase her range, strength and precision immensely. But now she could see that it was simply not enough.

She first ran across this ritual some time ago: it was supposed to be the pinnacle of bending spiritualism. From what she could tell, it would make the user so intricately connected to the world around them that it would be as if the Earth were truly an extension of themselves. At the time she passed it over: it was too dangerous, she had thought, too advanced and too risky. It was a technique for masters of both spiritualism and Earthbending, not to be used lightly or with inexperience. She hadn't wanted to overexert herself, or risk opening herself up to something she didn't fully understand – she had listened to Aang at least that much.

But now she knew she couldn't afford the luxury of waiting until she did understand. If she didn't become stronger, she would never be able to defeat Xin Fu. He would hurt her friends. He would force her to return to her parents. And in the back of her mind, she knew: he would be better. She couldn't allow this to happen.

She sighed and released her frustration as well she could. Those thoughts may steel her resolve, but she knew she would need to keep herself calm for this: no anxiety, no anger, no impatience. She needed to be focused. With a determined nod, she turned her attentions to the tablet and read aloud, confident that no one was around to hear.

_The process of immersing oneself in their element is one that takes many years of..._

She forced a derisive laugh, though her heart wasn't as in her bravado as usual. "Yeah, yeah… yadda yadda, how do I _do_ it? – aha! Got something!" She smiled and focused her "sight" upon a passage further down.

…_To enter a state receptive to this boon, one must first fully surround themselves in the element to which they are attune…_

"That'd be Earth, then." She "looked" up at the tunnels around her. "Well, I've done that already. What's next? Hmm…"

_In order to begin the ritual, the master in must enter a special spiritual trance and connect to the spirit world, yet limit the nature of this connection. Instead of transferring one's consciousness fully into the spiritual, one must remain partially in control of their own body and simultaneously connect to the spiritual energy of the element that surrounds them. The intricate balance of this connection is of vital importance – a slight deviation may prove-_

Toph winced, and reread the end of the passage just be sure she "saw" it right.

… _a slight deviation may prove fatal, or worse._

"Worse than fatal?" She frowned. "I really don't want to know. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." Anger quickly took over from anxiety. "Agh! Who cares! It's a lost cause anyway! I don't know the first thing about spirit trances!" Toph roared, and spent the next minute or so working through her anger by destroying one of the less essential tunnel walls. Small rocks and dust rained down from the ceiling, but she wasn't stupid enough to actually cause a cave in, even in frustration.

Finally, she calmed down to think. "Now what? I can't just go up and ask Aang to coach me through a trip to the spirit world! It's not like he can magically bonk my head and teach me how that spiritual crud works! I'll never be able to… able too… bonk…" She froze. Insight struck her, and a small grin slowly started to form on her face. "No… not my head… but… I think they were talking about Ty Lee's pressure point mumbo jumbo when I left. I'll bet there are points where…"

She recalled another tablet from her memory, just to be sure: this time, a diagram of the important spiritual points of the human body. She pored over it for a second before giving a triumphant laugh. "Yes! It says here that some pressure points do.. er… 'connect one's chi to the spiritual.' There's no way I'll be able to just give myself spirit powers, but if I hit all of them together it should force me into a spirit trance. Then maybe I'll be able to control it. No, I _will_ control it. I'm an Earthbender, I can overcome anything!"

Any notion that this plan was getting more and more insane by the minute had long since fled from her mind. As her objective grew closer, so did her concern for the consequences shrink.

A manically excited grin had replaced the uneasy smiles of the minute before. "Great! I can do this! What's next?"

_Upon entering the necessary trance, the master must bring their surrounding element upon themselves: the Airbender must breathe, the Firebender must burn, the Waterbender must choke, the Earthbender must bury. As the element envelops the master, they must then extend their consciousness into themselves and the element simultaneously. They must connect, physically and spiritually, to their element, and in doing so link themselves completely and utterly. In doing so, the ritual is done._

Her smile faltered, but did not break. "Sounds… simple enough. Oh, who am I kidding, it's crazy complicated. But I've come too far to turn back now."

Checking the other tablet, she found the points she needed to target to induce a trance. A small tap to the ground raised a handful of rocks to trigger her pressure points, hopefully without injuring herself. All she had to do was begin…

This was the point of no return. She could turn back now, go to her friends and think of a better plan. And in the back of her mind, she knew there had to be a better plan that this. Somewhere, she knew she should go back to the gang and confess all about what she had been doing. But… no. Xin Fu wouldn't be the last enemy with power like this. She just knew it. They had to be ready. _She_ had to be ready, even if it meant doing something a little unethical. She had to be strong. For everyone. She sighed again and made her heart cold. From this point on, she decided, she would only allow herself to think one thing: _this is worth it._

And so, she fired.

An enormous shock ran through her as they made contact, and then she suddenly… wasn't. It was the most surreal feeling she had ever experienced. It was like she just… wasn't herself. It took her a moment to realize that was because she outside of her own body: her _self_ was outside herself. Just below her she could even see her own body kneeling motionlessly in the tunnel just as she had been a moment ago. The realization didn't quite hit her that for possibly the only time in her life she was seeing with her eyes - or what passed for eyes as a spirit.

She shook herself back to the task at hand. There was no time to be distracted. With senses she didn't know she had, she reached back into her body and held herself tightly to it. Instantly, her mind felt like it was bring pulled in two: it was talking all of her concentration not to either let go or pull herself back in. With the force of an avalanche pulling at her spirit, she drove her physical self to stand. She took a calming breath – or what passed for a breath as a spirit – and repeated in her mind: "_this is worth it. This is worth it."_

Somehow controlling herself from the inside and the outside simultaneously, she forced herself into an Earthbending stance (_"This is worth it."). _Reaching out into the tunnels around her – she had never known how hard it was from a spiritual point of view ("_This is worth it!")_, it felt like her consciousness was being split in an entirely third direction! She was Toph, though – or what passed for Toph as a spirit – and so she powered through it. Without giving herself another moment to weather the strain she pulled as much rock out of the walls as she could and, ignoring the pain, slammed it against herself.

"_This is worth it this is worth it thisisworthitthisisworthitTHISISWORTHIT…"_

The world suddenly became like broken glass.

Her eyes shot open. Her mantra was lost in her mind. Was it supposed to be this painful? The tablet hadn't said anything about pain, but she could swear - no, she knew she was being torn apart! Was it supposed to feel like she her very soul was being crushed into an infinitely tiny point, then turned inside out? Was the whole world supposed to spin out of control, sucking her into an endless abyss?

Had she done something wrong? It felt very wrong, somehow…

Toph Bei Fong never screamed. She wasn't entirely aware of when she started.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>In which Toph does something extremely stupid. That ought to be fun, right?

Enter Xin Fu as Avatarverse Blockbuster. Yeah, Blockbuster is more of a Nightwing enemy than a Batman enemy, but Xin Fu's more of an antagonist for Toph anyway. I swear, I didn't notice the Bane connections until reviewers pointed it out to me, what with the whole serum bit, breaking the hero (if briefly), etc. I have plans for Bane, but they're far in the future - which means with my update habits you won't be seeing them for another decade or so.

More in depth commentary when I see you next time! Whenever that may be. ;p


	19. Forces of Nature: Part 3

**Disclaimer: **Yadda yadda, don't own Avatar or Batman.

* * *

><p><strong>Forces Of Nature – Part 3<strong>

Toph wasn't sure how long she had been unconscious, or even when she had fallen out in the first place. The last thing she remembered she was getting ready to perform the spiritbender ritual on herself. Everything after the set-up was hazy. She was fairly sure she _did_ it, somehow, but the exact specifics of what happened were a blank.

She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not: the only vague feeling she could bring up about it was that it wasn't pleasant.

"Maybe that wasn't such a hot idea after all." She pulled herself up to a sitting position and sighed, thinking of her friends. "Augh! I'm such a bonehead! Here I've been trying to magic myself up some free power while everyone else has probably been working themselves to death actually _doing_ something." She didn't even want to say out loud that the others were probably worried sick about her by now. With her disappearing into the catacombs for who knows how long without telling anyone, she wouldn't be surprised if they thought she went to go take on Xin-Fu again by herself.

She laughed despite herself. She wasn't _that_ much of a battle-junkie, though she could understand why they might think she was. "Ok, so maybe this one's worth the rare apology," she thought out loud, correctly figuring that no one was around to hear. She grinned, and an odd feeling of relief came over her. "Heh, maybe sometime when we're not all about to die… which I guess is basically never."

Still trying to chuckle off her ordeal, she rose to her feet… and froze.

Suddenly and without warning, her brain starting going haywire. Before she quite understood what was going on her senses went off on wild tangents on their own accord, and she began to feel disoriented. She shot her arms out to keep herself balanced, but oddly enough she needn't have bothered. Despite the growing sensation that there was way too much space all around her, she somehow never felt more rooted to the ground. It was an odd feeling, like knowing and not knowing exactly where she was at the same time.

Needless to say, she quickly became alarmed.

"W-what the…"

She stifled a panicked breath and tried to process what was going on. As far as she could tell she was "seeing" as she usually did, but the level of information was literally staggering. She had only done her usual sweep of her surroundings with her "sight" – what she always did instinctively. But now, it was like that simple act was opening floodgates that usually took intense concentration to breach. What had but a few hours ago been a major drain on her focus has somehow become instinct, as simple as taking a breath.

"Wow…"

She reached out, this time intentionally testing her range in a way she hadn't had to do in years. Her "sight" of the surrounding area came easier than ever before – further and further out than ever – and she couldn't help but gasp at the breadth of it. She could "see" _everything._ Everything from the soft tapping of footsteps on the stone floors several stories above, noticing steps she knew in at least three different rooms (Sokka, Zuko and Aang, all of whose gait she could distinguish perfectly, were each pacing around, trying not to wake the others) to the rich vastness of the Earth around her. She could see every single twist, turn, nook and cranny of the entire tunnel system – every detail! It was far larger than she imagined, spanning all across the mountain even in places Zuko probably didn't know about! And in the distance giant, unnatural steps echoed through the ground as they drew towards the city… could that even be Xin-Fu, taking his sweet time on his way to the final battle?

It was like everything was at her fingertips… or toes, in this case.

"This… is… amazing!"

It vaguely occurred to her that she was having more trouble turning it down than usual, but why would she want to? The sheer sensory overload was… it was like the moment she learned how to "see" for the first time. With this level of ability… she might as well have still been truly blind before!

"It worked. It really worked! It must have!"

She couldn't hold in her excitement. Grinning like a maniac, she focused on the wall nearest her and performed a simple Earthbending technique, intending to create an indent on the wall. It was an easy maneuver, but still something that took effort when acting upon solid rock. She figured it was a good test of strength, at least to start.

The entire wall exploded.

"Whoa!' Toph recoiled back and covered her head as a cloud of dust and debris descended upon her. The ground around her began to rumble: rather than the small indentation she had planned on making, there was now an enormous gaping hole where the wall, the mostly _load bearing_ wall, had been. The cave system in the area was become destabilized, and Toph knew right away that a cave-in was imminent.

Large chunks of rock began to fall from the ceiling, as a prelude to the massive collapse that could happen at any second. There was no time to get out: even if she used Earthbending to protect herself and dig her way out, it would likely only make things worse. If it was as bad as it felt, the _best_ case scenario was a sinkhole or fissure somewhere up above. In the worst case… under no circumstances did Toph want to do was be responsible for the destruction of any part of the city.

"Oh, no. No no no no…" She panicked and reach up, doing the best she could to stabilize the imbalance. To her surprise, the tremors stopped completely. The tunnel stopped collapsing, pieces stopped falling from the ceiling, everything just stopped.

Toph didn't entirely believe it, but she was literally holding the entire fissure up by herself… and what's more it wasn't even that hard. Still a mix of cautious her of her new power and unconvinced that this was really happening at all, she moved slowly and carefully Earthbended part of a nearby less important segment of the tunnel into the load bearing spot while still holding the area together. Soon, the entire passage was reorganized: she might have a little trouble recognizing it the next time she came through here, but the system was stable once again.

Toph stared at the wall for a long time. She had just stopped a major seismic disturbance cold, all on her own. Granted, it was a disturbance she had started in the first place, but that fact itself only added to what she was feeling. This was power like she had never felt before, and she wasn't sure whether to be awestruck, scared or just plain excited.

Her gaze drifted down to her hands. Slowly, carefully, she clenched her fist. The entire tunnel rumbled and shook, ever so slightly.

Despite herself, she grinned.

_Upstairs In The Castle, Some Time Later_

Excited though she may have been, Toph didn't allow herself to spend _too_ long reveling in her newfound abilities – she still knew she had to get upstairs to her friends as fast as possible. The last thing she wanted to happen was for them to have to face Xin-Fu by themselves while she was too busy thinking about herself, though if she were honest with herself she couldn't wait to show off her new powers to the others either.

As she snuck through the passageway into the palace, she immediately noticed that she could sense much less activity than she did before. At first, she thought it was a lapse in her own senses – as soon as she travelled above ground, she had started to feel a bit off despite her greater awareness. It wasn't a feeling of weakness, exactly, but more like an odd sense of separation, as if she had left something behind. It quickly passed, however, and she realized that it was no mistake: the palace was almost empty. Zuko's footsteps were gone, and she couldn't make out the careful tread of the Kyoshi warriors or the more deliberate steps that Katara tended to make either. Even the routine plodding of the workers was less than usual.

The only familiar footsteps she knew for sure were nearby were Aang's, whose (she could only smirk upon realizing) twinkle-toed gait was a lot easier for her to follow now. He was pacing restlessly in one of the lounge rooms, perhaps waiting for something (probably her). Suspecting she may have missed something important, she made her way towards him as fast as possible.

When she arrived, she found Aang arguing with someone reclining on one of the lounge sofas: Sokka, from the sound of the voice. When she entered the room both of them turned in her direction. Though she couldn't see the expressions on their faces, Toph could feel their relief from their body language and heartbeat alone. She felt another twinge of guilt.

"Toph! Where have you been? We've been worried sick!" Aang shouted.

"Yeah, we thought you might've gone off to rematch Xin-Fu on your own." Sokka sat up with a slight wince and tried to get to his feet. Without taking his eyes off of Toph, Aang gently but deliberately pushed him back down onto the couch.

Toph rolled her eyes – she knew they would assume something like that. "Nah, I was just… practicing. Or did you not notice that yesterday wasn't exactly my proudest moment?"

"Embarrassing or not, Toph, we're kind of in the middle of a situation here! We needed you with us!"

Toph wasn't one to like being scolded, even (or perhaps especially) by someone as close to her as Aang, but she figured the concern her friends held for her trumped her own indignation. At least, for the moment.

"Yeah, whatever." She waved it off, though not before shooting the two of them an apologetic glance to show she understood. "Where is everyone anyway?"

"You mean you don't know?" Sokka said, with surprise clear in his voice. "A little while ago there as a huge tremor throughout the city - you mean you didn't feel it?"

Toph resisted the urge to wince – she had done a lot more than feel that mini-earthquake – and determinedly kept her face blank. "Yeah, I guess so. What about it?"

She couldn't see it, but the two of them were currently gaping at her like she was crazy. "Well… don't you think that might be a sign Xin-Fu's closing in?" Aang said, sounding a bit confused that she didn't think the same. "We figure it was kind of like a early shot to show he means business."

Toph blinked. That _was_ obvious, now that she thought of it. Why didn't she realize her friends would jump to that conclusion? "Oh! Um,.. yeah. I guess."

"We did more than guess. Zuko had his lookouts scan the area around the city and lo and behold, Xin-Fu's really close. Ever since, Zuko's had everyone relocating to the city gates. Suki and went to go get the Kyoshi Warriors ready, Zuko and Mai went to go rally the city guard, and Katara went to go watch the situation at the gate while everyone prepares."

Toph was stunned. She really had returned just in time. "Well, what are we waiting for – let's go kick his butt!" Toph

"Wait! Toph, I still need to tell you the plan! You weren't here for it."

"Who cares? I've got a plan – let me at him and watch him go crying home like a baby!"

Aang and Sokka looked at each other – they had apparently been expecting something like this. "Toph… I think after yesterday…"

"Yesterday was a fluke! He caught us by surprise – I heard Ty Lee saying it myself as I was leaving. This time he won't be so lucky! I've got a few surprises of my own."

"Like what?"

Toph balked. Despite her overwhelming pride in her new abilities she was a little apprehensive about letting the others know what she had done, especially Aang who would be particularly disapproving. She settled for a general answer. "Hey, I don't have to teach you all my secrets twinkle toes. Whaddaya think I've been practicing all this time? My Earthbending's still top notch, and Xin-Fu is still nothing but a poser compared to me!"

Aang's stared at her for a moment. He could tell his friend was hiding something – ironically, Toph had taught him a bit too well when it came to lie detecting – but it didn't seem important enough to pursue at the moment. He made a mental note to annoy her about it later. On the couch, Sokka made another attempt to stand up, and Aang pushed him down again. "That may be true, Toph, but we still spent all night putting together a battle plan with Zuko and Suki. We might as well use it, right?"

"Yeah, we even had to work with that slimeball General Ibara. There's no way I'm letting all that lost time go waste."

Toph crossed her arms and pouted – though she would never admit to doing so. "Fine. I'll follow your plan for now. But if I get the chance – pow! I'm not holding back."

"Yeah, we figured as much."

"So… if everyone's heading to the gates to put the plan together, what are you two still doing here?"

"Well for one, someone needed to tell you what was going on when you got back – that is, if you didn't figure it out yourself." Aang explained. Toph chuckled sheepishly, not wanting to show too much embarrassment. "But even so," he continued, "I could've just left the message with someone here, except _someone_ refuses to follow his doctor's orders and stay here!"

Sokka scoffed and crossed his arms. "My 'doctor' also happens to be my sister. We ignore each other all the time, don't you know that by now?"

Aang sighed, looking more exasperated by the second. "Sokka, in this case I think it's best to listen to her. She knows what she's talking about – you were banged up pretty bad yesterday." He turned back to Toph to continue his explanation. "So anyways, Sokka keeps refusing to stay behind and we were running out of time. At first Katara and Suki wanted to hang back, but I volunteered. I can move faster than any of the others, so if push comes to shove I can much more easily get to the gates when everything goes down. Which reminds me…" he turned back to Sokka, looking annoyed, "you do know that by keeping me here, you risk ruining your own plan, right?"

"But that's just the thing: it was my plan! I need to be there to coordinate it! And what if something goes wrong?"

"Then we'll adapt. We're pretty good at that, remember? But if something goes wrong and you're hurt even more badly, I don't think any of us would forgive ourselves."

"I'm not _hurt_, I'm _recovering!_ Katara already healed most of the damage. Plus, we need all the help we can get. Gimme some support here, Toph – you know what I mean, right?"

He turned to Toph for support, only to find a surprising lack of sympathy. It was no secret that Toph was by far the most action-oriented of the Avatar gang – she was the most prone to fighting first and asking questions later and the most likely to think calling to arms and being reckless was the best solution to their problems. But even she had her limits.

"You'll get nothin' from me, Sokka." She smirked. "When you hit that tree you broke more bones than I even knew people had. Even if you're healing, it's still best that you – I dunno – give it a few days before you nearly kill yourself again?"

"Yeah? Well, I disagree." He made another attempt to stand up, which Aang easily stopped once again. "Would you stop that?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

Toph "watched" this display with her usual vague irritation. The last thing any of them needed right now was Sokka being stubborn. "Look, if this is all that's stopping us from going to beat on Xin-Fu, I've got a solution."

She tapped her foot against the floor, and several of the stone tiles shot into the air towards Sokka. Before he could react, they surrounded him and the sofa and bonded together, effectively keeping him tied down onto the couch and unable to move.

"Hey! What the-"

Toph smirked. "There. That oughta keep him there until Zuko's attendants can get him to his room or something."

Aang doubled over, laughing hysterically. "Don't worry," he joked, seeing the look on Sokka's face. "It's for your own good, Sokka. We'll be back soon." He looked over to Toph, who was still admiring her handiwork. "I'll have to give you a rundown of what we're doing on the way. It's not really all that complicated, but we don't want to accidentally step on anyone's toes."

"You guys can't just leave me here!" Sokka shouted.

Aang and Toph ignored him. "What? Oh, yeah. The whole 'plan' thing," Toph said, sounding bored. "Sure, whatever."

"There's no telling what's going on right now – we need to move. I know you usually don't like air travel, but we're in a hurry. You mind if I give you a lift, Toph?" He reached over to a nearby table and picked up his glider-staff, indicating how he planned on travelling.

Toph recoiled back, looking nervous for the first time. Flying on Appa was one thing, hurtling through the air at the mercy of the winds with only Aang's reassurance to let her know that they weren't plummeting to their doom was another. "Um… sure… just don't go too fa-AAAAAAAAASSSSSSST!" She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence, for the moment she said "sure" Aang leapt into action. In a single dash he grabbed her by the arm, kicked up a tailwind and started running – that being better for speed indoors.

"Bye Sokka!"

"-AAAAAAAH!"

Meanwhile, Sokka watched them go with a kind of desperate resignation. "Hey! Wait! Let me out! Would it help if I said I had to go to the bathroom?" After half a minute, he sighed – by then they would be outside and Aang will have taken to the air (with Toph in tow, probably in the middle of a rare panic attack). He banged his head against the sofa and groaned. Well, at least the attendants would show up soon to get him out of this mess, even if they were going to force him to go… to his… quarters… where all his armor and Zuko's secret passages were.

A lantern suddenly burned on in his head.

"Hmm… well, the gang did say I – Sokka – was not allowed to go out, but Wolfbatman never did get injured, did he?" He grinned. That logic was definitely not going to convince any of his friends, but it worked for him.

As if on cue, a group of servants walked in. They took a moment to stare blankly at the predicament Sokka was in (apparently they weren't expecting to see their guest literally strapped to the couch). Sokka, however, was smiling.

"Hey, I know you guys are supposed to take me to my quarters to rest, so let's just get that over with. But would you do me a favor and not disturb me for a while? I have some things I'd like to take care of…"

_A Short Time Before, At The Gates  
><em>

The booming sound of Xin-Fu's footsteps began thundering over the horizon less than an hour ago – before anyone not using a telescope or a bird's eye view could even see him. The sound became louder and louder with time, pounding like explosions in the distance. The increasing mass of guards stationed at the gate quickly surmised that their enemy was using his own Earthbending to make his steps quake the ground as he passed, knowing that the sound would unnerve them long before he even showed up.

They were a bit ashamed to admit that it was working, if only a little – the tale that those returning with the Fire Lord the previous day told them seemed more like a horror story than a debriefing. But they had all committed themselves to protecting the greatest city of their fair nation, and they had never let any weapon scare them away from that oath before. They weren't about to start now.

Behind them, a small regiment of archers accompanied by General Ibara stood in waiting, ready to back them up. Despite the soldiers' initial panic after hearing the story of Xin-Fu's strength, neither the General nor the Fire Lord were willing to expend anything more than a small response team to face one man – no matter how freakishly powerful – and they found a surprising (if fleeting) accord in convincing the others not to overreact. Despite his earlier defeat Zuko was still confident that they could take Xin-Fu down now that they knew what they were up against, and as far as he was concerned most of his men were simply there for support. Xin-Fu had chosen aptly in calling himself "Blockbuster:" his newfound powers could easily cause massive damage to the city and the innocent citizens who lived therein. As such, most of the guards were ordered to protect the wall and try to minimize collateral damage as much as possible. Waiting in the wings with them were Suki's group of Kyoshi Warriors and Katara, poised and ready for their moment to strike.

Zuko himself stood outside the gates, alone. This part was his own idea, despite the others' objections: the entire area was closed off, preventing any civilians from getting in the way. That way, there was no one else in close proximity to the action - at least not at the start. Not even his personal guard would enter the immediate area until he gave a signal – he wanted to be the only welcome party Xin-Fu met.

He got his wish. The thundering steps of Xin-Fu continued to sound across the horizon like a relentless drumming, coming ever closer. The guards began to shuffle uncomfortably, but kept formation. Zuko stood calmly, unmoved.

Closer and closer the sound came until finally Xin-Fu himself appeared upon the road, lumbering forward deliberately, yet deceptively casual. True to his word he seemed to have not stopped at all in his walk towards the castle, yet he was not visibly worn out. In fact, he seemed just as energized as he had been the day before. A twisted smile crept across his face as he saw Zuko standing there alone with the closest backup standing far to the top of a solid wall. He picked up his pace, sauntering jauntily to the Fire Lord and coming to a thundering stop directly in front of the castle gates, his eyes daring Zuko to make a move. The utter lack of respect in his demeanor was not unexpected, but also not something Zuko would allow to be tolerated. This insult, he knew, would end now.

"Well, this seems familiar," Xin-Fu grinned, unfazed by the no-nonsense glare his enemy was giving him. "What's this supposed to be, punk?"

Zuko's kept his flat expression. When he spoke, he did so with total authority. "This is your last chance, Xin-Fu -"

Xin-Fu interrupted him, his tone as disrespectful as ever. "Hey! Call me Blockbuster, Fool Lord. I'm trying to build up a stage name, here. Having a sovereign use my moniker should do me wonders."

"The time for games and showing off is over, Xin-Fu. You do not seem to grasp the severity of the situation you find yourself in. You attacked innocents in my kingdom, then attacked the highest authority itself when it came to settle the situation. This alone is a crime worthy of the more severe of punishments, but now you attempt to stage an attack on the capital itself? You're lucky you haven't been executed already." Xin-Fu scoffed. Zuko remained unfazed. "This is your choice, Xin-Fu. Take it or leave it: turn around now and leave this nation. You will be exiled, and never allowed to enter either the Fire Nation or any of our foreign affiliations for as long as you live, however long that may be with whatever you've done to yourself. Refuse this option, and I promise that you will be very sorry."

There was a paused. Then, Xin-Fu laughed – high and incredulous. "You've gotta be kiddin' me!" He said between breaths. "And with what power do you think you can make me do anything, after that pitiful display yesterday?"

"You don't get it. You think your little victory yesterday has proven you're superior. You actually believe that you've put the fear of… what was it… "Blockbuster" in us. You haven't. You've done nothing but prove you're a threat, which isn't as good a thing for you as you might think. Look behind me – that's the seat of a nation, possibly the greatest nation in the world. It's faced many things a lot worse than you, some very recently, and it will continue to do so after you've been taken care of. This? This is nothing."

Xin-Fu had stopped laughing, and the mocking expression on his face slowly slid away. He clenched his fists in fury, and began to walk slowly, menacingly towards the Fire Lord. Zuko continued as though nothing had happened or, more precisely, as though nothing that was happening was worth his attention. This only served to make Xin-Fu even angrier, but still the Fire Lord continued on.

"Look at yourself, Xin Fu. You have given yourself great power, and you think that makes you the greater man? You're like a thug firing a cannon, waving it around trying to get people to pay attention to you. You wield that power like a fool and use it to push others around. But I am Lord of all I survey, and I can always push harder." Xin-Fu came ever nearer, his face turning angrier with every insult. Soon, he was standing directly in front of Zuko, towering over him in his rage. Zuko remained unconcerned. "You've got no element of surprise this time, no way to offset us. You've only got yourself. And I don't think that's enough to do anything to me." At this he finally showed the behemoth his notice. He stretched himself up as far as he could and thrust his face into Xin-Fu's own, challenging and disdainful. "Do _you?_"

Xin-Fu was seething with rage at this point. His teeth were grinding heavily, and his breath was shuddering and shaking in long bursts. As Zuko predicted, his ego had driven him into a veritable fury. In an odd show of control he thrust his massive hand out and grabbed Zuko by the collar, pulling him up to eye level.

"I'll show you _'enough_' when I crush you like a bug."

Zuko smirked. His face remained totally devoid of fear, for he knew escaping from Xin-Fu's grasp would be a lot easier than it seemed with his own skill and Xin-Fu in such a rage. But the time was not right yet. "Like I said, you have no idea the severity of what you've walked into. I warn you once more, this is your last chance."

He glanced as well he could at his surroundings without tipping Xin-Fu off. Still no sign of Aang. Not just yet…

_Meanwhile, on the Wall_

The archers perched upon the wall watched the proceedings down below with much consternation. There had already been grumblings through the guard about the "foolish bravado" of the Fire Lord facing this threat himself when he surely could have had an agent, or better yet a squad of agents, do so for him. Several of them wished that they could defy orders and accompany their leader anyway, but if there was anything the Fire Nation army was prided on it was allegiance to command. These men and women were vaguely aware of what they were there to do, and they were proud of their abilities: they were no Yu Yan, but when it came to covering an area with flaming hailfire, they were an exceptional group.

This pride, however, did not make the sight of the behemoth closing in on the Fire Lord any less nerve-wracking to bear, and it became even worse when Xin-Fu grabbed Zuko and lifted him into the air, seemingly helpless. All of them drew their bows and lighted their arrows, unnerved and uncertain about their next move. The Fire Lord had given them no signal yet, but it seemed that at any minute he would be too trapped to do that in the first place.

In short, they were getting very antsy. That their next orders came from General Ibara and not their Lord did not help this at all.

Ibara had watched all of this with a grim expression. Iit was hard to tell what he was thinking. When Xin-Fu first appeared he allowed himself a rare look of surprise, but ever since he appeared to have been doing some deep, pensive planning. Upon seeing Zuko seemingly captured by the dangerous criminal they were supposed to stop, he eyed the situation for what seemed like an eternity before responding. "Hmph," he scoffed. "Our Lord puts himself right in the path of danger, and this is what happens. Clearly he is trapped. Very well." He walked to where the archers could all see him and raised a signal. "Fire at my mark!"

The soldiers gaped at him in surprise. Down below, Suki – who had exceptional hearing – snapped her head up in shock and ran to the nearest ladder, ignoring the other Warriors shouting after her.

"But sir!" Said the Captain of the Guard, who was second in command in this situation. "The Fire Lord is still down there! He'll be in the line of fire!"

"And if we do nothing, he will be crushed to pieces – and his being in the line of fire will no matter," Ibara said smoothly. Something very vague chanced across the corners of his mouth. He paused, possibly for effect. "A tragedy, to be sure. Fire when I say, soldier. That's an order!"

"Ready!" He lifted his hand. The archers tentatively aimed their bows towards the battlefield, aiming to cover as wide an area as possible, though also as far away from the Fire Lord as they could.

Fast as she was, Suki reached the top of her latter just in time to see Ibara's hand drop. "What are you doing? Stop!"

"FIRE!"

_Down Below…_

Zuko had to admit it, he wasn't expecting the rain of fire arrows that started flying towards himself and Xin-Fu. At least, he wasn't expecting them yet. They were supposed to wait for his signal! The strike from the archers was the start of a very quick sequence of events – this was happening too early, far too early! It could ruin everything!

In his frustration, Zuko failed to realize that Xin-Fu was bound to react as well. He found himself lurched to the side as Xin-Fu gripped him under one arm and backed away slightly, weakly covering his face with his free hand. Shocked at this sudden change, he wriggled a bit and found that this time he _really_ couldn't get away – at least not easily. Perfect.

Xin-Fu faltered back a little more, wincing as the array of arrows continued to pelt him. It appeared he wasn't entirely arrow-proof or fireproof – while none of the arrows were doing permanent damage, they were still hurting him. Zuko groaned: this brief moment, with Xin-Fu ambushed and vulnerable, was exactly what they were hoping with the archer strike, and now it was likely to backfire on them instead.

Just as Zuko predicted, Xin-Fu did not remain off-balance for long. Once he got his bearings back, he fell into an Earthbending stance and pulled two massive pillars out of the ground, shielding most of him from further attack. He began to slowly strafe back and forth around the gate, eyeing the garrison on the wall and preparing for a counterattack. However, the archer continued to fire, forcing Xin-Fu to wait until an opportune moment.

Luckily, raising and moving his shields required both of his hands, and the jostling gave Zuko just enough leeway to get his own arms free. As soon as he was able, he created a small flame in his hand and shouted out to catch Xin-Fu's attention.

"Not going as well as you thought, eh 'Blockbuster?'"

"I could say the same about yo-aaagh!"

As soon as he turned to face him, Zuko shot a blast of fire straight into Xin-Fu's face. He recoiled back and swatted away at the flame, which finally forced him to drop Zuko in the confusion – though his shields unfortunately remained in place, protecting him from the archers. Zuko hit the ground rolling and leapt out of the danger zone. As soon as he was safe, he breathed a sigh of relief (and threw an exasperated glare towards the wall, where the archers were still firing) and began to assess the situation while he still had time:

Xin-Fu was still on the defensive, which was good, but he had had time to cover himself, which would likely cancel all that good out. The archers, though successfully pinning him down for now, would soon suffer a nasty retaliation once Xin-Fu decided to go for broke and take a hit to get rid of them. Attacking early was a dire mistake: it has lost them their element of surprise and created an opening that they had little ability to follow up on, and would soon lose entirely.

Zuko grunted to himself, which was the only thing he could do for now. Whoever had ordered that attack had earned themselves some choice words…

_Meanwhile..._

"You idiot! Why would you do that?"

Suki was absolutely furious. Now accompanied by Katara, she was wasting no time in berating Ibara over how foolish it was to attack Xin-Fu so early – as far as she was concerned, the problems with such a plan were obvious, and not just because she knew more about battle than most people twice her age. If Ibara had been one of her own, such a foolish move would've easily cost him his position – but since she had no authority to do so, she settled for making her tone as blistering as possible. Behind her, Katara remained silent, but she affixed Ibara with a very dark, very accusing glare. "We had a plan! You knew that! In attacking Xin-Fu so early you showed our hand and forced his! Plus, Zuko was down there. He was _in the way of your attack!_ He could've been killed! You may have ruined everything!"

Ibara stared back at them, his expression blank. "Don't think you can give me a dressing down, missy. I have been commanding battles since before you and your little troupe of performing warriors could walk -" Suki's eyes flashed, and she made a half motion towards Ibara before stopping herself. Ibara pretended not to notice. "-and I know a failed 'plan,' if you can even call it that, when I see one. The Fire Lord led this brute up to our very gates and then essentially let him loose. We had to drive him back."

The other soldiers listened to this with some nervousness, but as the archers were still busy throwing arrows and the others were still Firebending, none of them could interject. Most instead pretended not to hear, for fear of accidentally agitating the argument.

"Leading him up was the point!" Suki growled. "Zuko was supposed to lead him into position. Then, and _only when he gave the signal,_ were you supposed to fire! And once he was off-balance, Aang would have-"

"Ah, yes," anger was starting to creep into Ibara's tone now. He leaned down to meet Suki's eye level, his upper lip curling. "And where is your Avatar now? Running late, I suppose? A fine time for that! The Fire Lord was out there, alone and clearly out of time. I made the best call that I could see."

Katara scowled nastily at the slight against Aang, but continued to say nothing. Suki, on the other hand…

"No you didn't. You made a cruddy decision that might end up costing lives! This was supposed to be a simple operation-"

Ibara laughed over her, making her even madder. "All this preamble is ludicrous. We should've just taken this thug down with the force we had, but no – we had to put on this insipid show. But what else can we expect from ex-rebel rabble?"

Suki gasped, and Katara's eyes narrowed dangerously. "How dare you!"

"How dare _you_, speaking to a Councilman and General of the Fire Nation Army as you are, a member of a no-account local militia."

At this Suki might have actually started throwing punches, but a shout from one of the guards caught their attention.

"Look, up in the sky!" The guard pointed up to an approaching dot flying through the air straight at them, carrying another dot (which looked fairly agitated as far as dots go). "It looks like…"

Katara spoke for the first time, pushing Suki aside slightly as she craned to look. Instantly all anger at Ibara was instantly, if temporarily, pushed aside. "It's Aang! And that looks like Toph!"

It was indeed Aang, trying to make up lost time by flying as fast as possible. When he drew close enough, he quickly spotted Katara and Suki on the wall and swooped down in their direction.

"Aang!" Suki shouted as he approached. "No time to stop! He's already recovering from the strike, you have to act now!"

Aang gave no outward sign that he had heard, but he swept past the wall on a beeline for Xin-Fu rather than landing, depositing Toph on the wall next to Katara and Suki on the way.

Toph stumbled dizzily, her hair windblown and her brain totally disoriented by her breakneck flight. The sensations of the Earth below slowly came back to her, but not quite fast enough to keep her balance straight. "I'm gonna g-get you for that, T-twinkletoes," she stammered, before promptly collapsing onto the ground.

Meanwhile, Aang weaved through the flying arrows and sped towards Xin-Fu. He took a moment to take in everything that was going on, then dove low to the ground in an attack approach.

"Hey, Blockbuster!"

Xin-Fu paused in his defense at the call and peered through his shields. His eyes widened as he saw Aang, but he only had a moment to react. With a twisting motion, Aang pulled a large stone out of the ground while still in flight and threw it with pinpoint precision towards Xin-Fu. It struck directly between the shields and forced them apart, cracking them in two and forcing Xin-Fu to stumble back to avoid behind hit in the face. Using this momentary opening, Aang rushed forward and swung his staff around with as much Airbending power as he could muster, striking Xin-Fu in the side of the head. Xin-Fu was knocked silly and twisted around, staggering slightly, but Aang was not done yet. With one more burst he flew behind Xin-Fu and hit him point blank with a Firebending blast just as he spun into place.

The effect was just as Aang had hoped. For the first time since his transformation, Xin-Fu was knocked off balance and fell to his knees, stunned. Satisfied was his work, Aang called out to the next person in the chain: "Toph, your turn!"

Toph burst from the gates, now mostly recovered from her high-flying experience and ready for some action. With her usual smirk, she ran towards Xin-Fu and bent a large amount of earth onto his arms and legs, then fused those bonds with the ground itself - locking him in his prone position and leaving him unable to move.

"It's a shame," she pouted in mock-disappointment, though there was an edge of truth to her joking. "Here I was ready to kick his butt, and all I end up doing is putting the cuffs on him. Seems like a waste."

Xin-Fu sneered at her as he tried to escape him shackles, while Aang merely shrugged

"What does that matter, as long as it's done?" Aang said as he circled the battlefield, reasonable as ever. Toph stuck her tongue out at him. "Suki!" He called towards the wall. "You guys are up!"

Suki, who was still watching the fight from the wall, gestured down towards her waiting comrades and leapt town to join them. A moment later the entire squad of Kyoshi Warrior filtered out through the gates and descended upon Xin-Fu, each maneuvering around him in perfect coordination to strike precisely at the right point.

They had practiced this, with Ty-Lee and Suki drilling them for much of the night so they would have an idea where Xin-Fu's pressure points should approximately be and act accordingly. Ty-Lee herself climbed up onto his back and aimed for the most important point – right at the base of his gargantuan neck - with the butt of her weapon. At Suki's signal, they all moved in unison and struck their own point at exactly the same time for maximum effect.

Xin-Fu stopped short and shuddered as a shock ran through his body. And then…

"Heh heh heh…" A slow grin spread across his face. "Was that supposed to do something?"

The Warriors froze, sharing fearful looks with each other, and even Aang and Toph looked on in shock as their coordinated attack seemed to do nothing at all. "Again!" Suki shouted, not willing to let their plan fail so easily. The others nodded and prepared to keep hitting until it finally worked, but Xin-Fu had other plans.

"You think you can hold me?" He suddenly drew up all of his strength and burst free from his bonds, flinging Kyoshi Warriors in every direction and ripping large chunks of rock from the ground into the air, most of which flew into the walls or out onto open ground. _Most_ being an key word, however:

Aang gulped as he saw a particularly large piece of Earth hurtle high over the wall and into the city. "Oops…" He mumbled softly. "I hope that doesn't crash into anything important…"

_Meanwhile, Somewhere Important_

Min, a servant in the palace, stood outside on one of the estate's many balconies enjoying a break. Though there was something or another that needed attending to inside, with most everyone outside either attending to the situation at the gates our out reacting to it in some way most of their usual duties weren't necessary – even the Earth King had elected to monitor the situation from his own temporary villa. The only important people inside, that she knew of at least, were Master Sokka and soon-to-be-Fire Lady Mai, both of whom insisted on being left to their own devices and were difficult to argue with in that regard.

So she didn't see much harm in skirting her duties for a few minutes, at least.

She looked towards the gates, where she knew a dangerous criminal was currently being personally taken care of by the Fire Lord himself. She felt a rush of respect well up inside her, for it made her proud to be part of a nation whose leader cared about the things that threatened his people and took care of them personally if necessary. Though she would never have disobeyed the orders of the previous Fire Lord and Lady, none of the servants could deny the great fear they instilled in all their subjects – with Zuko it was different. He was no less a powerful, impressive figure than his relatives to be sure, but there was always a feeling about him and the way he received others, like he actually cared about their issues as much as if not more than his own. It made her happy to be under the protection of such a person.

That said, she was also glad she was here in the palace and _not_ over at the gates where the action was. She was proud her Fire Lord would fight her nation's battles for her, but that made her double happy that she didn't have to fight any battles herself. She would rather stay safe and sheltered in the palace if she could help it, thank you very much.

As if on cue, a massive projectile interrupted her thoughts by flying into her view and zooming directly over her head. She dove for cover needlessly as the cannonball-like object missed her entirely and crashed into the palace, plowing through a wall in the guest wing as if it were made of paper.

Min was soon joined by a throng of evacuating attendants, domestics and the occasional citizen who were bolting for safety, some rather goofily leaping through the door as if it were on fire (which, as far as she could tell, it wasn't). Once the crowd became large enough, a mass of questions started echoing back and forth between them: "Were they under attack?" "Should they arm themselves?" "Was the Fire Lord alright?"

They soon discovered, however, that the object _wasn't_ actually the first of many, but apparently a one-off from the battle a long ways away, and coincidentally enough the only one to do any serious damage to the city itself. This calmed the crowd down somewhat, though a few of the attendants - Min included - were a bit reluctant to go back inside.

Soon-to-be-Fire Lady Mai joined them soon after, looking bored as always. A projectile hadn't struck anywhere near her quarters (the damage was limited to a small area of the guest wing) but her personal attendants had insisted she leave anyway. She wasn't happy about it, but a brief headcount showed that everyone was there and nobody was actually hurt by the mishap. Everyone except…

"Oh dear…" Min gasped. She looked towards the guest quarters. "Did anyone check on Master Sokka?"

_Back at the Fight_

Needless to say, Xin-Fu had completely left their precision strike to take him down in ruins. Aang and Toph were still standing, but there were unconscious and injured Kyoshi Warriors littering the landscape and nobody even knew where Ty Lee and Suki had landed. Zuko was back inside the gate organizing an group of non-bender guards to recover the fallen Warriors for medical attention while the others regrouped on the wall, but their chances of reaching anyone but the ones closest to the wall while Xin-Fu was out there were slim to none.

Xin-Fu himself stood amongst the wreckage with rising anger and more than a little sadistic glee. He stretched out his arms, both to celebrate his freedom from his temporary bonds and to get ready to take his revenge. "Pretty cute attack, kids. But you're gonna have to do a lot better to take the Blockbuster down! Not that you'll get the chance!"

Aang shot a glance at Toph. The two of them were currently the only ones left to fight, at least until Zuko got his men regrouped. He was relatively sure they _could_ do it, but just as Zuko himself was not that long ago he was concerned for the people around him. The last time he went all out to face an opponent with greater-than-normal bending ability there had been a lot of damage to the area around him, and Xin-Fu's is a lot more resistant to harm than Ozai was. Perhaps if he and Toph attacked at once catching him by surprise they could end this quickly… but he was still airborne, so he had no way of quickly getting a message to her without Xin-Fu noticing, and they had to act sooner rather than later. It seemed like they were in a unique bind.

But to his surprise, Toph was smiling. In fact, she looked absolutely giddy. At Xin-Fu's threat she squared herself off and glared at him, a challenge written in her eyes. "We've got more of a chance than you think, musclehead."

Xin-Fu narrowed his eyes at her taunt and raised his arms, preparing to unleash another fissure directly the offending Earthbender. "Always with the bravado, punk!" He sneered at her, apparently not realizing that Toph couldn't see his facial expression anyway. "Let's see how brave you are when I smash you into dust!"

"Whatever." Toph waved her hand dismissively. "I'm actually kind of glad Sokka's plan didn't work. I was really looking forward to _taking you down myself!"_

Toph closed her eyes and spread her senses into the Earth. Taking a deep breath, she reached deep, concentrated and _pulled_…

All at once, the Earth began to shake. It was slight enough at first that most of others thought it was something natural, but soon enough it grew to be more than noticeable. The quaking started happening violently enough to put everyone in the vicinity but Xin-Fu and Toph herself off-balance, and even Xin-Fu had trouble not stumbling.

All across the wall, soldiers – already getting themselves together after Xin-Fu's burst of freedom hit the wall – started stumbling over themselves and holding onto railings for support. Katara was on her way down off of the wall when it started, intending to give her aid to where Zuko's men were bringing the injured Kyoshi Warriors, but when the quaking suddenly became serious she slipped off of the ladder and fell. It happened so fast that she had no time to bend something to lessen her fall, and so she plummeted straight off the ground…

… directly into the arms of an armored soldier.

Though she did voice her thanks, Katara didn't bother paying much attention to the person who saved her. She wasn't meaning to be rude, but the source of the tremor was her biggest concern, and she wanted to figure out what happened before anything else (plus, she might have been a little bit embarrassed).

"What in the world was that?" She shouted as she dusted herself off. "What's Xin-Fu up to now?"

"Actually…" the soldier said softly, in a voice she probably should have recognized. "I think that was Toph."

The two of them looked out through the gate, where Toph and Xin-Fu were clearly visible. Toph was slowly pulling her arms up, and as they rose the ground rumbled and splintered at her command. On the other hand, Xin-Fu was in an Earthbending stance but he wasn't moving. He was clearly just as stunned about what was happening as the rest of them. It was definitely Toph who was wrenching something from the Earth, and it seemed _massive._

"Whoa." Said the soldier. "Whatever this is, it might be bigger than almost anything I've seen her do before."

With the tension from the general situation, which was not helped at all by her recent fall, Katara was feeling a bit standoffish – and something about someone they didn't even know making a statement like that rubbed her the wrong way. "Oh yeah? And what exactly would you know about what she can-" She turned angrily, and froze when she finally got a good look at the soldier who saved her.

In particular, the familiar grey armor he was wearing…

Back at the fight itself, Toph was forcing down the urge to laugh. She was expecting this to be difficult – or at least, more difficult than it was, but instead it was almost easy. Her new power really was phenomenal: it was still a bit of a trial getting the Earth to cooperate with a task this size, but once she started bending everything just seemed to fall into place.

"W-what are you doing, you little brat?" Xin-Fu actually seemed a little afraid.

_Good._ Toph smirked. "Just watch!" With a shout she gave a final yank, and out of the ground came an enormous crag - easily twice Xin-Fu's size. He took a step back, instinctively realizing what was coming next: with another yell, she pushed forward and the boulder hurtled toward him at high speed.

"What?" Xin-Fu threw his arms forward to catch the enormous boulder, and got the surprise of his life. He expecting to use his strength to break it or at least throw it aside, but instead he found himself deadlocked. He could hold the boulder in place, but it was too strong for him to reflect let alone break. And even bracing himself, he was slipping backwards slightly. "_What?" _His frustration mounting, he decided to shatter the attack with Earthbending… only to find that Toph's Earthbending was somehow countering his own – easily, if anything. He just couldn't make any headway. "_WHAT?!"_

And through it all, Toph continued to smile. "Who's gonna smash _who_ into dust, Xin-Fool?" She applied more pressure on the boulder, forcing Xin-Fu to put even more effort into pushing it away.

Aang was still flittering overhead, and had a front row seat for this battle of wills. "Wow," he gaped at the sight. For the first time, Xin-Fu was actually having trouble stopping an attack. "Toph's been holding out on us." However, he knew that leaving it at that was unwise, and so did the others apparently. From the wall came another attack order – this time from Zuko personally – and the volleys continued again. The fire blasts and arrows pricked into Xin-Fu's unnaturally tough hide, causing him to lose his concentration; his hold on the stone was starting to slip, and Aang could tell that one final blow would cause him to lose it altogether. He dove into the fight, prepared to deliver that final attack himself.

"It's over, Xin-Fu!"

Aang flew low, but made the mistake of touching the ground. As soon as he landed behind Xin-Fu, the giant Earthbender stomped his foot and Aang was once again launched high into the air. He recovered quickly, but it gave Xin-Fu enough time for a split second recovery: with perfect timing he let go of the stone and dove to the side just as Toph was giving it another push. With nothing stopping it, the boulder hurtled past him and crashed to pieces a far ways away.

Ignoring his two most major problems for the moment, Xin-Fu set his murderous sights on the ones who had been incessantly attacking him from the beginning. "I am _so tired __**of being SHOT AT!"**_ Xin-Fu screamed, and with a mighty wave of his hand a whole section of the wall collapsed into gravel and shot towards him, carrying half the guard screaming along with it. The rubble fused together as it neared its master, becoming a solid "blanket" of Earth with human beings trapped inside. Toph, who had been preparing another attack, faltered as the mass of hostages moved into her range.

"I don't know how you got so strong overnight, kid," Xin-Fu growled, "but let's just see you try to overpower me when you've got a bunch of friends in the crossfire!" He smirked, and the "blanket" looped around in front of him to show his point – over a dozen guardsmen were trapped within it, still alive… for now. "That goes for you too, Avatar!" He called to the sky, and Aang was reluctantly forced to back off. Satisfied that his point had been made, Xin-Fu twisted the "blanket" so that it spread behind him like a kind of alcove to give him protection him from behind and above, which ensured that Aang couldn't interfere.

Toph gritted her teeth. She hadn't been expecting to have to hold back – and while she was forced to do so, Xin-Fu would have no problem using his full power on her. "S-so what if you're too much of a chicken-lizard to face my strongest stuff!" she tried taunting him, though her worry for his victims was edging into her overconfidence. "Lighter attacks are just as good!"

She threw forward her fist, and a small pillar of stone shot out of the ground and struck Xin-Fu in the stomach. Not expecting her to attack so soon, Xin-Fu was caught by surprise and stumbled back – nearly crashing into the "blanket" in the process. Toph winced. Even with her more precise moves, she would clearly have to be careful.

"Clever, punk. Very clever." Xin-Fu grunted. "But let's see you handle this!" And so, knowing he could now cut loose with nigh impunity now, he clenched his fists and returned fire.

_Meanwhile…_

If looks could kill, Sokka would have been less than a memory in seconds. He was actually a bit surprised he hadn't spontaneously combusted when Katara recognized him, she was glaring at him so hard – or her either, now that he thought of it. She looked like she was about to explode. It wasn't easy to get her this enraged – even those who threatened innocent people got a more cold, controlled anger – but among the gang Sokka and Toph were particular experts at it.

_It always seems to be me, doesn't it? _He mused to himself, though he tried not to let his thoughts show on his face. That would probably just make things worse. _She never gets this mad when _Aang_ does something stupid. Lucky._

"You…" She was hissing. Actually hissing. Never a good sign. "… are not supposed to be here."

"True, but I thought you might need my help."

She didn't seem to have heard him. "You are supposed to be in your room, recovering from _breaking half your bones."_

"Sshh!" He whispered. He looked back and forth, making sure nobody was in earshot. "I'm Wolfbatman, remember? Nobody's supposed to know who I really am!"

"Like I care!" She looked even angrier, but she did lower her voice. "What are you thinking? I told you to stay put! Why don't you ever listen?"

"I guessed that if this turned out like anything else we do, it would probably all go nuts no matter what we did."

"Don't give me that. You just wanted to be part of the action!" Sokka did not deny it, which Katara took as a cue to continue. "You're going to go straight back to the palace right now – there've been a few hitches, but this is under control n-"

It was at this point that Xin-Fu tore down the wall. Sokka and Katara grabbed each other at the same time and both tried to throw the other out of harms way, resulting in an awkward kind of dive that at least got them both to safety. The two huddled together as stray rubble rained down from above. Sokka used his armor to cover Katara, and Katara used a waterbent shield to cover _him._

Once they were sure it was over Katara immediately sprang to her feet (pushing Sokka out of the way in the process) and sprinted towards the gates where Zuko was frantically trying to get everyone to regroup. For the moment, her concern for others outweighed her anger at her brother. "Someone's going to need help!" She gasped, more thinking out loud than anything, but just to make sure Sokka was still with her she called back: "We have to make sure everyone is alright!"

She needn't have bothered. Though he was delayed a bit when Katara pushed him aside, Sokka was right behind her.

When they reached Zuko he was ushering his remaining men out of danger zones, checking them for injuries and moving them into a better attack position. General Ibara stood nearby shooting Zuko disgruntled glances. He seemed particularly incensed about something, perhaps another argument with Zuko. He spared the two but a small glance when they approached, then returned to his thoughts. Katara's gaze lingered on him for a moment, her expression cold, but she quickly cast him aside and headed for their friend.

Luckily, or unluckily depending on one's point of view, Xin-Fu's taking of guards as hostages meant nobody was trapped under the rubble, but there were still several who were injured by the attack. Zuko was in the middle of reorganizing the bulk of them for a new plan. If Xin-Fu were relying on such dirty tactics to get by, he was soon to fall if as far as Zuko saw it. He brightened when he saw that Katara was unharmed, but paused upon seeing Sokka – in full Wolfbatman garb, no less.

"You're not supposed to be here," he mused, though he was much less angry about it than Katara had been. It seemed more like he was just noting the fact.

"Sorry, Zu- Fire Lord, sir," Sokka quickly amended he words, remembering that Wolfbatman wasn't supposed to be as casual with Zuko as Sokka. "When I saw the trouble, I just couldn't stay away."

"Clearly." He quipped, and just like that as far as he was concerned the matter was settled for now. Katara scoffed but didn't raise the issue. Zuko turned back to the scene outside the gates, where Toph and Xin-Fu continued to fire back and forth and Aang zoomed around looking in vain for an opening. "Toph seemed to have his number, bending-wise. He was on the defensive, and I was so looking forward to wrapping this up before they serve breakfast at the palace." Zuko said matter-of-factly, still as calm as ever.

Sokka started in surprise as the words Zuko just said sunk in. "Wait… Toph?" Remembering once more that he was in public as Wolfbatman, not himself, he added: "-Bei Fong? Matched Xin-Fu's crazy new bending powers? Impressive."

"Yes. I'd almost say she more than matched them. I think she's been saving a few tricks all this time. But then he decided to be a sore loser and did this. His little wall of hostages maneuver is keeping any of us from interfering, and I'm not sure yet how we're going to counter it. Anything strong enough to break it down will definitely hurt and might even kill the people trapped in it, and Aang and Toph know that. I suppose I should be happy that they're at least holding him for now…"

While Zuko summed up the situation, Sokka racked his brain trying to figure out a way out of it. Blockbuster was making sure that nobody would dare try any serious attack on him, so even Toph's apparently unrevealed skills – which he would really have to congratulate her on later (gush about, more like, but he didn't like to refer to it that way) – and Aang's Avatar advantage were cut off from helping. He groaned inwardly. Of all of them, Aang was probably the most bothered by all of this: he hated involving innocent people in fights like this. Granted, the guards knew what they were getting into, but this was still the sort of thing that angered him.

In any case that wall would have to come down, but Zuko was right – enough force to take it out was enough force seriously hurt someone. The brute force Earthbending Toph and Xin-Fu were slinging in particular was out – a huge collision at this point was the last thing they wanted. What they needed wasn't pure power but precision… Precision which Aang or Toph might be able to deliver, if they weren't in the middle of a tense situation. Neither would be able to focus on something like that. But in dealing with the two of them Xin-Fu would be unfocused as well…

His head shot up and he smiled as inspiration struck. Clearing his throat, he turned to address his friend and sister. "Sorry to interrupt, Fire Lord, sir, but I think I have an idea."

Zuko smiled, as if he had expected this all along. Katara rolled her eyes at Sokka's faked soldier's demeanor but looked interested nonetheless. Even Ibara glanced up at them, though he kept his aloof demeanor.

"We just need to hit this with the right counter," he continued, "Overpowering him with Earthbending, though effective when he's got nothing to prevent it, will only hurt the captive guards. Firebending too – no offense, but we might end up burning the people we want to get out of there. And if Aa- the Avatar could have gotten a good shot with an Airbending slice, he would have done it by now…"

"And..?"

"Well, what's left?" He smirked, and turned to Katara. "Ka-" He cleared his throat to cover yet another slip up, and made a mental note to work on that before he gave something away. Katara gave him a skeptical look, which he ignored completely. "Lady Katara, if you were able to get close, would you be able to bend some water _into_ the stone, like mud?" He already knew that she could – having seen her done it before – but he needed to spell the plan out for everyone involved. "And after doing so, could you trickle the water _through_ the earth to the right place, even while he's moving it?"

Katara narrowed her eyes and put a hand to her chin. She was starting to get an idea of what Sokka was getting at. "Yeah, probably."

"Excellent. Then I have a plan – we'll need water, of course…"

A nearby soldier stepped towards them and helpfully gestured towards the town center. "The nearest fountain is just down that way."

"But, wait – what about the injured guards and the Kyoshi Warriors?" Katara protested. "I'll need to help coordinate the healing!"

A cough from the ground drew their attention. It was one of the Kyoshi Warriors that they were lucky enough to get inside, and like Katara thought she looked worse for the wear. Her broken arm was obvious just from looking at her, but despite this she was determined to refuse help. "We'll keep," she groaned, never taking her eyes off of Katara. "The sooner we shut this fool down, the sooner we can worry about such things. Now go!"

A quiet moment passed, before Katara sighed and nodded. With a pointed look at Sokka, she hurried into town in search of water.

Zuko stared after her for a moment, then turned back to his men. "Alright, any of you still able to Firebend get ready – we're going to finish this now. I have a general idea what you're planning, Wolfbatman, but do you need anything else?"

Sokka, who had also been staring off after his sister, hid a jump of surprise at the sudden question and turned sharply to his friend (they both ignored the scoff that came from Ibara's direction). "Oh. Well, nothing else from here." He said, trying to keep the sheepishness out of his voice and resisting the urge to rub the back of his head. "But if you'll excuse me, I have to talk to someone on the outside…"

When Xin-Fu's surprise attack scattered the Kyoshi Warriors from the battlefield, Suki was one of the ones who took the worst hits. She hurtled through the air and hit the ground near the wall, far from the gates. She had landed badly: she was sure she had taken a bad break in her shin at the very least, and it was probably worse than she thought. She knew this meant that she was effectively out of the fight. She couldn't get up and start swinging again (she could barely move as it was) and she was too far away for anyone to start worrying about her before taking care of the literally giant problem at hand (at least, if they were smart), so she was effectively stuck.

She figured it made some sort of cosmic sense. She led the charge, so she got the worst injury. This was definitely disappointing, but at least she had a decent view of the fight. Plus, better her than one of the others – most of whom she could see recovering from her vantage point. Only a few were still on the ground, including Ty-Lee (naturally, it seemed, as it was her plan) and some of the newer recruits who couldn't take a hit as well yet.

No better time to gain experience, she suppoesd.

Still, no matter how serenely she took her injury it was irritating to have nothing to do but watch as her friends found for their lives. At first, it was nervewracking – she thought her heart was going to leap out of her chest when Xin-Fu attacked the wall, not least because of the possibility that a piece of it would fall down on top of her. But now it was actually a bit boring. Toph, Aang and Xin-Fu were in a stalemate, and since there was nothing she could do to add to the situation it was actually kind of dull watching as nobody did anything to finish this once and for all. It got to the point that she wished something, anything, would happen just to move things past the rut the fight had fallen into.

At that exact moment, a gray blur dropped in front of her from above. At first she thought the wall was finally crumbling, until the gray blur smiled at her with a familiar face. A face she was beginning to be quite exasperated with.

"You're not supposed to… ugh… be here," she hissed – and for the first time she realized that she might have broken a rib.

"So I've heard." Sokka joked, though he was more subdued than usual. He briefly checked over her injuries, making sure nothing was life threatening. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I just got knocked into a wall." She groaned. "Why are you here? You're remanded to home on account of being injured, remember?"

"You're one to talk," he said, eyeing her leg.

"And you'll notice I'm not charging back into battle like this."

"Only because you literally can't," he smirked.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I hope you're not thinking about getting me back inside the city," she said, changing the subject. "You'll never sneak past the battle without getting caught in the crossfire, and it's a bad idea to try to scale the wall carrying me in this condition."

Sokka looked extremely reluctant to have to agree, but he still nodded right away. "I know." And that was that. Suki wasn't surprised he had gone along so quickly - she suspected he had already come to that conclusion before he came after her, which meant he had another reason for being here (besides making sure she was alright, of course). So she looked at him expectantly.

"I've got a idea to salvage this before things get worse," he continued. "But I need to talk to Ty-Lee. Do you know where she is?"

"No such luck, she's over there," she pointed a short distance away, where Ty-Lee lay unconscious. "She hit the ground pretty hard – she's still breathing, but she's out cold."

Sokka sighed in mild defeat (after knowing him so long, Suki recognized that he had many different "sighs of defeat"). "I'll be right back," he said, and he was gone in Ty-Lee's direction. A moment later he returned. He was pinching the bridge of his nose and scowling, which probably wasn't a good sign. "Yep, she's going to have a heck of a headache later, but she's alright. She's not going to be telling anyone anything about her pressure point technique for a while, though."

Suki smiled softly. Sokka gave her a confused look. "She went over it with me when we put the plan together," She explained. Sokka's grinned, though she put her hand up before he could gush about their luck. "I don't know quite as much about pressure points as she does, though – we each only memorized the point we were supposed to strike for now. I was going to incorporate the whole thing in training later. So, it's a toss-up, I think."

Sokka winced, but pressed on. "I just need to know the most important one. I need the exact point on the neck where she was supposed to strike to shut down Xin-Fu completely."

"Lucky. I remember that one. It was the lynchpin to the whole plan. Plus, I was thinking of making a new move around it…" Wearily, she pulled her arm up (ignoring Sokka's protests that she should lie still) and gently tapped Sokka on the back of the neck, right on top of the pressure point. "Right here. Don't miss."

With a smie, Sokka took her hand and gingerly put it to rest with the rest of her. "Thanks." He said softly. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to go into the fray now. Stay safe, if this goes right we'll get this done with no one getting hurt." She half-heartedly glared at him. He smiled sheepishly. "Well, no one _else_ getting hurt."

She returned his smile with one of her own. "Just come back in one piece, so I can kill you."

"Always."

Sokka got back to the gates just as Katara returned from the fountain with several guards in tow, each carrying a large barrel full of water. She shot him a brief glare when they met – clearly she was still mad at him – but otherwise acted as though there were no problem at all (Sokka figured she was waiting for a better time to let him have it. Something to look forward to, he guessed). Zuko was there as well, and had been waiting for them alongside General Ibara. As they approached, Ibara eyed them both with a resigned but obvious distaste.

Zuko ignored his general and nodded once he saw them. "Let's go." He said, not even waiting for them to confirm that they were ready. Without another word they all (with the exception of Ibara) ran out to join Aang and Toph, who were still trying to find an advantage of their own.

So far Toph had been doing a bit better than Aang. Perhaps knowing that Aang could hurt him more effectively without collateral damage than Toph could, Xin-Fu had focused primarily on using his hostages to keep the Avatar at bay which gave him little to do but hover around the battlefield getting more and more impatient. This left Toph able to aim shots at with a bit more frequency, but there was only so much power she could put into her attacks without risking harming his wall of captives – which all added up to a waste of a perfectly good power boost, in her opinion.

Not only that, but keeping up the offensive took more concentration than she was expecting. Since she couldn't just attack him with all her might, he had a lot more freedom to send something painful her way. This forced her to be one her toes even more than usual, without even mentioning that she had to make sure he didn't direct another errant shot to where someone else could get hurt. The frustration of it all made her want to scream: what should have been (again, in her opinion) an open and shut situation of her stomping him into dust instead turned out to be an irritating game of dodging shots and looking for an opening.

But with new abilities, even with all the focus she was giving Xin-Fu she could still feel the others coming to join them without the slightest bit of distraction – she figured she could gloat to herself about it at a less tense time. Aang didn't react either, but then he could actually see the whole fight with a bird's eye view. The only one who was caught unawares was Xin-Fu himself, but everyone ignored his cry of "what the heck is this," having better things to worry about at the moment.

As he came close, Toph muttered to Sokka – knowing without even needing to sense it that he was wearing his Wolfbatman armor. "You're not supposed to be-"

"_Yes,_ _I know_." He said brusquely. As though that ended the conversation entirely, he ran into clear sight and made a rising gesture for Aang. Aang once again got the idea right away, and he rocketed up high into the air where the others could barely see him. With that done, Sokka turned to Katara.

"Now!"

Xin-Fu had by now fallen completely into his fatal mistake. He had been too focused on Toph and Aang to notice the others approaching, and too surprised by the sudden addition to the fight to react in time to prevent them from acting against him. It took him a few seconds to realize what was going on, which was just the amount of time they needed. Before he could move himself or his prisoners of the way, Katara pulled all of the water she and the guards had collected out of their containers and whipped them towards the block he had trapped them in.

As soon as the water made contact with his earthen "wall," the whips began weaving through the rock like thread. Katara started to sweat from the strain – accurately boring through earth with water was like pushing through molasses, and the fact that Xin-Fu could control that earth made doing this as quickly as possible the first priority. With the best speed she could muster the threads of water twisted themselves throughout the whole block, ringing each of the hostages in turn one by one until they were all surrounded by a personal outline of water.

Too late, Xin-Fu realized what was happening and moved to stop it. "You… how dare you!" He bellowed. He raised a massive fist in an attempt to crush Katara before she could finish her attack, but she was too quick. She sharply clenched her fist, turning all of the water in the block to solid ice. The fallen guards' temporary prison immediately splintered into several pieces, one for each of them, and they all fell roughly but safely to the ground.

Sokka wasted no time. "Toph! Now!"

With a brilliant grin on her face, Toph threw her hands up. Xin-Fu's protection had left him, and before he could put up another kind of defense he found himself once again encased from the neck down in another stone trap. This time, even larger and stronger than before.

"You think this can hold me?" He ranted. "I'll just break out again!" But as he struggled, he found that this trap would not break as easily. To get out he would need time – time he no longer had, for once he was safely bound Sokka sprang into action (he hid a wince from all this action, since he really didn't need Katara seeing that he was still in a little pain) and climbed up the trap, stopping on the back of Xin-Fu's gargantuan neck.

"No, you won't," he said, pulling out his Wolfbatarang (and missing his normal boomerang for what felt like the millionth time).

"You're going to try that pressure point trick on me again?" Xin-Fu sneered. His voice was rough with rage, and thoughts of nasty vengeance were already running through his head. "I won't even feel it."

Sokka smirked. "Not if I do it, maybe. Aang! Right here!" He tapped the hilt of the boomerang against Xin-Fu's neck, on the exact spot that Suki had showed him. Trusting his friend's eagle eyes to do the rest of the job for him, he jumped off. He had spent too much time in the danger zone as it was.

"What's the matter?" Xin-Fu ranted, unaware of what was really going on."Too tough for ya?"

Sokka said nothing in response. He just looked to the sky patiently, and let his knowing smile say all the words for him.

There was a whoosh of air, and then like a dart or an arrow Aang came shooting straight down out of the sky. The basic maneuver was the same as the one they had used so long ago to take down the Steam Drill, during the Azula's first attempted invasion of Ba Sing Se - a massive strike at a single point – and though there was no target for him this time Aang knew exactly where he needed to go. He began to spin to increase his speed – just fast enough to made a spectacular landing right on top of Xin-Fu's deserving head.

"What?" Xin-Fu started to panic. He could hear the approaching wind, but he couldn't see where it was coming from. Too late, he sensed that something was going very wrong and picked up his attempts to get free. "What's going on? Answer me! NO-"

***WHAM***

A gust of wind accompanied Aang as he slammed down onto Xin-Fu's neck with all his might, hitting the pressure point in his neck precisely with his staff. Xin-Fu froze, then went slack. He was out cold. The fight was over.

It took a moment for their victory to slowly sink in, and then the guards started to cheer. Zuko took charge, and he was suddenly all business. Usually at this point in the fight the gang would make jokes or try to have some fun with their victory, but being the Fire Lord usually meant Zuko couldn't join in these days – at least not right away. He at least needed to make sure the situation was fully dealt with first.

He was very calm as he waved a few of his guards over (cutting their celebration short), as through the fight hadn't been the big ordeal that it was. "You," he wa shouting, and yet he almost sounded unconcerned. "Get this trash out of my sight and into better accommodations for his 'trip.'" He turned to Toph. "As far as you know he can't metalbend, right?"

Toph blinked. She hadn't thought of that. "I… don't think so?" The fact that it sounded almost like a question earned her an eyebrow twitch from Zuko, but she didn't really have a better answer. "Probably not."

"It's better than 'no,' I suppose." He grunted. "If you would keep him contained like that for the time being?"

"Oh, yeah. No problem." She pulled her fists together and an extra layer of stone covered Xin-Fu, which would make it extra hard for him to escape even if he weren't knocked out for the near future.

Zuko watched as a dozen guards strained to pick up their massive prisoner and carry him towards a holding cell (or perhaps an unbreakable safe). Once that was done, he coordinated the recovery of all the other stragglers from the outside of the wall – including a very impressed Suki – and ordered everyone back to the palace. As that was being done, he got into a tense but determinedly short conversation with Ibara before "encouraging" him to take his leave, which ultimately left just himself and the gang standing outside as everyone else marched away into the city.

It was only after he was sure nobody but his friends were around to see him that he allowed himself to deflate, and he let a long, weary sigh.

"Well, that was tiring," Aang said, voicing what everyone else was feeling.

"And it's not over yet." Zuko tone sounded suspiciously like whining, but the others let him have his frustration. "I have to get Xin-Fu taken care of, fix the wall – if you would help, Toph?" Toph nodded, and Zuko allowed himself to smile just a little bit. "Not to mention I have to give those guards a serious chewing out for breaking form…"

"Yeah, what happened with that anyway?" Aang asked. "I didn't think you guys would start without us. I didn't even think we were that late. What, did one of the archers get too trigger happy or something?"

A cross expression covered Zuko's face. "Or something. Ibara intentionally set off the attack early. Said something about me clearly having lost control of the situation, despite knowing the plan. His incompetence nearly ruined everything."

Katara tutted, which brought everyone's attention turned to her. She was starting not at them, but off into space with a very dark look on her face. When she spoke her voice was cold and distant, as if she were trying to control her anger. "He's lying. I'm sure of it. I might be going too far, but I don't care – somehow I think he knew exactly what he was doing. I could swear he meant for Zuko to get caught in that attack."

Another silent moment fell as the implication hovered over them.

"That's a serious accusation," Zuko said quietly. His expression was of the unreadable kind that they were all used to, though his tone wasn't as accusing as it might have been. It was more reflective – he had been thinking about it as well.

"Maybe." Katara said. She turned to the others at last. "Maybe I'm imagining it. But I could swear he wasn't just making a bad call. He was taking an opportunity."

Zuko groaned. "I wish I could say I trust him too much to take it seriously. I'll keep my eyes open." Katara seemed satisfied by this, and the tense moment was over. "All I know is if it wasn't for…" he checked their surroundings again to make sure nobody else was listening. Katara and Toph both snorted. "… _you know who, _we might have lost a lot of lives."

"Where _is_ the man with the plan, anyway?" Aang said. He and the others looked around to find that Sokka had somehow given them all the slip when they weren't looking. "Aww, I was looking forward to telling him how awesome that turnaround was."

"He probably slinked off as soon as the fight was over," Zuko mused. Of all of them he was the only one who hadn't looked, having already guessed Sokka took off. "Impressive."

Katara made a noise like a frustrated shout mixed with a yawn. "If he thinks that's going to save him," She growled. "He's got another thing coming. He is so dead!"

"Ooh!" Toph smirked. Goading Katara was one of her favorite hobbies. "I think I'd like to see that."

"Not that I'm necessarily against it," Aang put his hand on Katara's shoulder, and the two shared a smile. "But can we postpone the killing of Sokka until after we get a rest? I don't know about you guys but I didn't sleep a wink last night."

A round of groaned agreements were the only response he got.

_Later..._

When they returned to the palace Sokka was already there to meet them. He was no longer wearing the armor and didn't look any worse for the wear – in fact, if they didn't know better they might have believed that he really _had_ been sitting in the palace doing nothing the whole time. He was playing up his injury as usual and even made a point of walking with a cane, which he wouldn't have even needed at this point in his recovery anyway.

Mai was also already there, as was Ibara, several of the guards involved in the fight and a group of the palace's handmaidens. As they entered the grand meeting room, Sokka was standing near the entrance, and he got very excited once he saw them. Again, if they didn't already know better they might have thought he really was eager to hear the details he missed.

"So, how did the big battle with Blockbuster go?"

Katara walked in first, followed by Suki (who was patched up and using a crutch for her _actually _injured leg), and they both glared at Sokka the moment they came in. The message was clear: "you are going to pay for this later." Toph and Zuko walked in after them and each gave him almost mocking "I wouldn't help you if I could" looks, and Aang just shrugged. Sokka gulped, but tried to play it off as nonchalant.

"It was actually less spectacular than you might think," Aang said judiciously. Ibara, who was only staying for the debriefing, laughed derisively from his corner of the room. Sokka pouted, having clearly been fishing for compliments.

"We got a bit of the aftershock here," Min the handmaiden piped in, though she became much quieter when she realized she was speaking directly to the Fire Lord and his allies. "A… um… boulder flew through the visitor's quarters. We evacuated just to be sure… but for a moment, we thought we lost Master Sokka…"

Sokka grinned from ear to ear. "Turns out I was just lost in the palace grounds. Convenient that I decided to take my walk just then, huh?"

This time, _everyone_ glared at him but the servants (and Ibara, who merely looked at him with disinterest). "Yes…" Katara said icily. "… convenient…"

Zuko frowned and put his hand to his chin in a spur of thought. "With the guest wing damaged, you all might have to move to conventional quarters. Repairs on that will take a bit longer than the wall, even with an Earthbender and the Avatar to help."

"Can we think about that later?" Aang asked, and this _definitely_ sounded like whining. "The lounges are still alright, right? I just want to get some sleep."

Toph snorted. "Are you kidding? We just beat a _superhuman_." With the day she was having she was all kinds of excited at the moment, and didn't want any of that energy to go to waste. "So I say we only take a short break and then do what we were going to do yesterday. We _celebrate!"_

"I like that idea!" Sokka whooped. Katara and Suki glared at him again. He winced. "And I… um… wasn't even there…"

Ibara grunted disapprovingly at Toph's suggestion and turned to leave. For the briefest moment his gaze fell on Sokka just as he left, and he scoffed once more before walking out of the palace doors. None of the others paid much attention to his exit, though Zuko became much more open to the idea of chilling out now that he was gone.

"That actually sounds good to me," Zuko yawned, but kept his composure. "I could use some cheering up."

"Looks like another all nighter," Mai said with her usual sarcasm, though her soft smile and the arm she put around Zuko's shoulder showed how she really felt. "Though if it's for the good cause of Zuko actually _wanting_ to relax for once…"

Everyone laughed, and just like that it was like the whole thing never happened. The happy feeling from yesterday, which Xin-Fu had so rudely interrupted, had returned.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Big battle, eh? I hope my fight-narrating skills have improved.

Something I wanted to deal with here is the question of how strong Xin-Fu was: while I wanted to establish that he was much stronger than a normal bender, I didn't want to give the impression that he was the most powerful being ever, necessarily. He's perhaps an Earthbending equivalent to someone empowered by Sozin's Comet, if a bit less powerful than that perhaps, which would put him under Aang himself - and when he defeated Avatar State Aang and the rest of the gang, surprise and opportunity had a lot to do with it. In this fight he's basically put on the defensive immediately, and while he hits our heroes hard at times it and it takes a ton of narration to get through, the fight is supposed to be rather quick.

Also, on Zuko's palace I don't quite know the exact layout in the show, but I'm assuming there are rooms in the palace itself for visiting family and such, which is the "visitor's wing" that Aang and co were using while in the capital. Like Ba Sing Se, there are also villas for visiting dignitaries, which is what they're going to be using from now on.

Iroh's barely in this story. I dunno why, it just didn't end up that way.

Onward to the epilogue...


	20. Forces of Nature - Epilogue

**Disclaimer: **If you don't know by now that I don't own Avatar or Batman, I don't know what to tell ya.

* * *

><p><strong>Forces of Nature - Epilogue<strong>

The celebration was modest (Zuko would allow nothing even remotely raucous in his palace, much to Toph's disappointment), but true to Mai's prediction it went on for a very long time. First, Zuko personally requested for some of the cooks from yesterday's festival to come to the palace and prepare an impromptu midday brunch. Initially it was just supposed to be a private banquet, but then people started to arrive: mostly nobles and politicians showing up to flatter the Fire Lord for his victory (even the Earth King and Chon came by, raving about how they spotted Aang and Toph flying past their villa) and ending up staying for the food. Eventually brunch turned into an all-out feast.

Zuko was disappointed but not surprised. He suspected that might happen, and so he was prepared when their personal festival became more public than they had hoped. He had zero interest in spending the rest of the day playing politics with aristocrats, so when the number of people in the palace started to swell he personally invited the guards who were involved in Xin-Fu's capture (most of whom were lower class) to join, and then their families and so on. The result was a royal feast unlike any the Fire Nation had seen for quite some time: a laid back affair with people from several walks of life mingling together, which the previous regime would _never_ have allowed. For that reason alone the feast was talked about for a long time (though not everything said was true: it took Zuko years to shake the probably unfounded rumor that he himself personally led the guests to the dungeons so they could throw rocks at Xin-Fu).

After the food there was music (again featuring performers invited from yesterday's festival) and socializing, though no _official_ dancing. Zuko wasn't the world's biggest fan of having to do that sort of thing (at least, not publicly) and neither was Mai, and no amount of pleading from Aang would get him to change his mind. Unfortunately for him, Aang and Katara got some of the guests to clear a circle for dancing anyway, and even managed to drag Zuko (kicking and screaming as much as he could while maintaining decorum) into it for a second.

After that was the best part: Kyoshi Warriors were finally able to put on their show so that their friends could see. Even with half of them recuperating from the battle - and some, like Ty-Lee and Suki, recovering from some serious injuries – the lot of them were ecstatic at the idea and got the whole show put together within an hour. It was an interesting performance: a halfway mix between traditional Earth Kingdom theatre (at least, that's what the Earth King said) and a circus – no guesses for where that influence came from. It ranged from comedic to dramatic, from vibrant to somber, and at times the warriors even pulled people from the audience to join in (Sokka had a feeling that they were counting on being able to have Aang able to join them the day before, as the parts where they asked him on stage were particularly spectacular). By the end everyone was clapping, and the warriors' closest friends were even happier to finally be able to see their hard work.

By then it was getting late, and Zuko's tiredness was starting to show. He kicked the bulk of the guests, chefs and musicians out as politely as possible until only the gang remained, and they talked for a while before he showed them to their villa. It was cozy, much like the villa they were given in Ba Sing Se (albeit without the feeling of a gilded prison), and among other things it was ground level which meant they could open up Toph's room to the bare Earth (to her delight). Zuko and Mai left soon after that, and the whole group talked, laughed and reminisced for a long time. There were a few questions thrown around about Xin-Fu and whether his new power had anything to do with the spiritbenders (eventually they decided it probably wasn't, since if he were going after them at the spiritbenders' behest he probably would've had a better plan), a lot of congratulations for Aang and especially Toph (she was able to deflect their questions about where her newfound power came from reasonably enough, though somehow she knew it wouldn't end there), and a whole lot of (mostly good-natured) flak to Sokka for not letting himself heal. By the time they were done it was nearly morning, and even Katara looked a bit regretful when she pushed everyone out of the living room and into bed so they could get some sleep.

All in all, for all that it started badly it ended up being a pretty good day...

* * *

><p>A few hours later, as the sunlight began to creep over the horizon, the peaceful sleep of the villa was interrupted by a bloodcurdling scream. A moment later a booming explosion followed from Toph's room. Within seconds the whole house was on alert. Led by Aang, who literally flew down the hallway, everyone burst into her room with whatever weapons they had, ready to fight another war if they had to. What they found was a bit less dangerous than an army, but no less shocking: Toph was pressed up against the wall, pale and shaking, and staring at the floor with uncharacteristic fear. The open space in the center of the room, which they dug up in case she wanted to sleep directly on the earth, was blown into a huge crater. Bits of dust and rock were everywhere, embedded into the walls and falling from the ceiling. It looked like another boulder had torn through the place.<p>

It took a moment for the scene of destruction to sink in. Then, suddenly realizing where they were, everyone turned to Toph. "Toph?" Sokka shouted. He grabbed her shoulders to get her attention and make sure she wasn't hurt, but she was still staring at the floor as if it were on fire. "What in the world happened in here? Are you okay?"

"T-the ground, it… I was… I-I thought… I…" She was stammering. She _never_ stammered. Something was clearly wrong, but before any of the others could ask her about it she suddenly stiffened and pulled her expression into a straight face. "I-it's nothing. I must've just had a nightmare. Sorry to get you guys out of bed." The usual teasing edge to her voice was gone. Instead her words sounded strained, to keep from letting how anxious she was show. The others immediately recognized it as her fiercely trying to force herself to get over whatever had worked her up in the first place.

They looked blankly at each other, unwilling to leave her when she was so shaken up. She had never let a nightmare get to her like _this_ before. "Just _go,_" she groaned. She pulled her arms together and all the rubble neatly moved back into the crater. "Honestly. I'll be fine." She pointedly looked away from them, embarrassed at both her moment of fear and the attention her friends were giving her over it.

An awkward moment passed, and one by one the others wished her good night and left. Sokka took up the rear, figuring this would all be out of mind soon (they'd all had serious nightmares at some point or another - he could tell some freaky stories about his...), but just before he closed the door he could swear he heard Toph mutter something to herself, not intending anyone to hear.

"I... I swear. It felt so _real…_"

Once everyone was gone, Toph slowly worked herself off of the wall and inched her way to bed. She gave the open patch a wide berth, but she had no idea why. For reasons she couldn't explain, for the first time since she discovered she could bend Toph wanted to avoid the Earth. Just before she crawled into bed she stopped herself and slowly looked back at the open area, wondering what she was doing. Then grabbed one of her blankets and covered the ground with it for good measure.

She didn't go back to sleep for a long time.

The day after, nobody talked about the nightmare on pain of a stalagmite to the face. It was impossible not to notice as well that Toph was a bit wary about the earth (especially odd for an earthbender), never standing in the same place for a long time and not practicing bending that day like she usually did, but nobody mentioned that either. They all figured it would either blow over, or she would talk to them about it. That night there was no nightmare, nor the night after that or after that. After a day or so Toph sudden timid streak slowly but surely all but vanished, and she was back on her bending regimen like nothing happened - while there were a few moments where she might have seemed oddly cautious if someone was looking for it (and for some reason, she avoided showing off any of the tricks she used on Xin-Fu), she was effectively back to normal. Whatever the nightmare was about, it didn't seem to matter any more.

But the whole incident was odd enough that while it all did blow over, none of them really forgot about it. Least of all Toph.

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note:<strong> Toph's gone and done a very stupid thing. Here's hoping it all works out...

So on the heels of the longest chapter I've ever done by far, this one's done. Oddly enough, the big thing this time wasn't writer's block, but real life - I have lots of other things I'm working on, and though I really like this project it takes a backseat a lot. Still, I do really enjoy writing and thinking about this premise, and that people enjoy reading it. There's more to come, even if updating is sporadic. And on that note.

**Next time on Wolfbatman:** A lead in the case of the pirates' suspicious behavior has broken, tracing their weapons trading to an old "friend" who may be using an underground bender fighting ring as a front. Someone's got to go undercover, so it might as well be Sokka - who faces **A Clash, And A Titan** next time on Wolfbatman! Same Wolfbat page, same fanfic website!


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